This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 

MAR  2  8  1324 
MAR  8      1928 


>OUTHERN  BRANCH, 

DIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LIBRARY, 
4-OS  ANGELES,  CAUF, 


LIPPINCOTT'S 
EDUCATIONAL    SERIES 

EDITED    BY 

MARTIN  G.   BRUMBAUGH,  A.M.,   PH.D. 

PROFESSOR   OF   PEDAGOGY,  UNIVERSITY   OF    PENNSYLVANIA,    AND   COMMISSIONER 
OF  EDUCATION  FOR   PUERTO   RICO 

¥ 
VOLUME  I 


EDUCATIONAL  SERIES 


THINKING 

AND     ..  •   •     ... 

LEARNING.  TO    THI'NK 


fey 

*  ** 

NATHAN  C.  SCHAEFFER,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT    OF    PUBLIC    INSTRUCTION    FOR 
THE    STATE    OF    PENNSYLVANIA 


,7582. 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 

1902 


COPYRIGHT,  1900 

BY 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


cLECTROTYPEC   AND   PRINTED   BY   J.  B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY,    PHILADELPHIA,    U.S.A. 


Education 
Library 

H 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

THE  progress  of  educational  thought  during  the  closing 
years  of  this  century  has  been  marvellous.  Professional 
schools  have  created  a  demand  for  professional  teaching 
by  giving  an  increasing  group  of  skilled  instructors  to 
our  schools.  This  professional  activity  has  caused  our 
leading  cities  to  provide  training-schools,  as  integral 
parts  of  the  city  system  of  education.  Finally,  our  great 
universities  have  established  departments  of  pedagogy 
for  the  higher  training  in  education.  As  a  result,  the 
leading  positions  in  higher  schools  and  in  supervision  are 
more  and  more  demanding  professionally  trained  leaders. 

In  this  auspicious  awakening  for  professional  leader- 
ship there  has  come  an  increasing  demand  for  standard 
treatises  upon  the  fundamental  problems  of  education. 
Treatises  upon  the  history,  methods,  principles,  and 
systems  of  education  have  appeared  with  astonishing 
frequency.  That  many  of  these  are  commercial  treatises 
— made  to  sell — is  doubtless  true.  There  is  always  a 
great  temptation  to  profit  by  an  active  demand.  "Well- 
disposed  but  not  always  widely  trained  and  broadly 
cultured  teachers,  who  have  achieved  a  local  success 
with  a  method  that  owed  its  .virtue  to  the  personality 
of  its  author  and  not  to  its  intrinsic  worth,  have  been 
tempted  into  authorship.  The  wiser  and  nobler  minds 
in  the  profession  wait.  The  days  of  unrest  and  experi- 
mentation, breeding  discord  and  confusion,  have  in  part 
passed  away,  and  the  time  has  come  when  the  products 
of  all  this  divergent  activity  may  be  put  to  the  test  of 
clear  analysis  and  adequate  experience.  This  is  especially 

6 


6  EDITORS  PREFACE. 

true  in  the  domains  of  historic  and  philosophic  inquiry. 
In  experimental  activity,  touching  the  problems  of  psy- 
chic life  as  related  to  its  sensorium,  much  has  been  done 
in  a  tentative  way.  Much  must  yet  be  done  to  produce 
results  of  enduring  significance. 

This  series  of  educational  treatises  is  projected  to  give 
inquiring  minds  the  best  thought  of  our  present  pro- 
fessional life.  Fundamental  problems  in  education  will 
be  exhibited  in  the  series  from  time  to  time  by  thoroughly 
trained  leaders  of  extended  experience.  Teachers  may 
confidently  accept  these  as  authoritative  discussions  of 
the  cardinal  questions  of  their  profession. 

The  highest  endowment  of  the  human  spirit  on  the 
intellectual  side  is  the  power  to  think.  Learning  to 
think  is  an  essential  process  and  end  in  all  school  work. 
Thinking  is  the  intellect's  regal  activity.  In  a  vague 
way,  all  teaching  appeals  to  the  thought-activity  of  the 
pupil ;  but  vagueness  in  teaching  is  as  pernicious  as  it  is 
common.  To  exhibit  the  value,  scope,  and  process  of 
thought  is  of  inestimable  service  to  the  teacher.  It  gives 
specific  direction  to  teaching  processes,  and  saves  the 
child  from  a  thousand  fanciful  expedients. 

In  the  craze  of  the  passing  decade  for  novelty  in  teach- 
ing, there  has  resulted  an  undue  emphasis  upon  forms  of 
so-called  expressional  activity.  It  has  been,  in  many 
quarters,  forgotten  that  education  is  noblest  when  it  pro- 
duces reflective  activity.  The  power  to  analyze  and 
synthetize  thought-complexes  is  the  most  fruitful  en- 
dowment of  the  intellectual  life.  Expression  without 
adequate  reflection  is  productive  of  superficiality. 

We  have  been  living  a  life  of  educational  expedients. 
The  path  of  educational  advance  is  strewn  with  countless 
cast-off  practices  which  once  claimed  attention  largely 
because  of  the  feeling  among  too  many  that  the  newest 
theory  is  the  best.  There  has  come,  let  us  hope,  the 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  7 

more  rational  resolve  to  test  all  new  and  loudly  heralded 
theories  by  fundamental  laws  of  mental  activity.  To 
emphasize  the  significance  of  this  reaction,  and  to  afford 
helpful  criteria  of  educational  processes,  this  volume  will 
be  found  most  stimulating,  suggestive,  and  sensible. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  teacher  thinking  may  be  dis- 
tinguished as  follows : 

(a)  Clear  thinking,  by  which  one  is  to  understand  think- 
ing the  thing,  and  not  some  other  thing  in  its  stead. 
Much  thinking  is  not  clear.  The  power  of  recall  is  not 
fully  developed.  The  mind  acts,  but  is  not  able  to  assert 
confidently  the  accuracy  of  what  it  acts  upon.  Much 
needless  criticism  is  heaped  upon  schools  because  pupils 
cannot  spell  correctly,  solve  problems  accurately,  recite 
a  lesson  in  history  or  in  geography  properly, — in  short, 
because  the  pupil's  knowledge  is  not  clear.  The  first 
step  in  all  true  teaching  is  the  step  that  makes  clear  to 
the  pupil  the  thing  he  is  to  think. 

(6)  Distinct  thinking r,  by  which  one  is  to  understand  think- 
ing the  thing  in  its  relations.  This  phase  of  thinking  is 
sometimes  called  apperception.  It  is  the  second,  and  not 
the  first  step  in  thinking.  There  is  no  value  in  teaching 
relations  until  the  things  to  be  related  are  first  clearly 
apprehended.  Perception  must  precede  apperception. 
The  pupil  in  the  elementary  school  has  been  well  taught 
if  he  has  been  taught  to  think  clearly  and  distinctly. 

(c)  Adequate  thinking,  by  which  one  is  to  understand 
thinking  the  thing  in  its  essential  parts.  This  is  the 
analytic  form  of  thought.  The  child  at  first  cannot 
think  adequately.  His  mind  thinks  things  as  wholes. 
He  has  not  the  power  to  think  the  whole  and  its  parts,  as 
parts  of  the  whole,  simultaneously.  He  must  rise  to 
adequate  thinking  only  after  clear  and  distinct  thinking 
have  become  habits  of  mind.  The  fuller  phase  of  this 
activity,  by  which  these  analyzed  parts  are  synthetically 


8  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 

wrought  into  an  organic  unity,  is  the  process  of  concept- 
making, — the  essential  prerequisite  of  all  high  orders  of 
thought.  This  power  every  teacher  should  possess.  It 
is  his  surplus  of  knowledge,  the  possession  of  which 
makes  him  easily  master  in  the  teaching  process. 

(d)  Exhaustive  thinking,  by  which  one  is  to  understand 
thinking  the  thing  in  its  causes.  This  is  the  highest 
form  of  thinking  the  thing.  It  gives  perspective  to 
thought-processes,  and  eliminates  all  accidental  and  mis- 
leading elements  from  the  categories  of  thought.  To 
achieve  this,  one  must  specialize.  The  teaching  of  the 
future  must  be  more  and  more  intensive  in  scope.  The 
day  of  the  encyclopaedist  is  gone.  The  teacher  of  to- 
morrow must  be  a  teacher  who  knows  one  order  of  truth 
exhaustively,  and  who  possesses  the  skill  to  incite  in 
others  a  permanent  enthusiasm  for  that  order  of  truth. 
Scientific  progress  is  conditioned  by  such  teaching. 

The  author  has  brought  to  this  discussion  the  matured 
convictions  of  broad  training  in  American  and  European 
systems  of  schools,  and  a  wide  and  successful  experience 
in  teaching  pupils  and  directing  systems  of  education. 
The  discussion  takes  on  the  modest  but  stimulating  style 
of  the  public  speaker.  The  author  has  for  many  years 
been  among  our  foremost  lecturers  upon  education.  The 
temper  of  the  discussion  is  moderate  and  constructive. 
There  will  be  found  here  no  wild  excess,  no  straining  after 
fanciful  effect,  no  advocacy  of  sensational  and  ephemeral 
methods ;  nor  is  there  a  trace  of  pessimistic  and  destruc- 
tive criticism  of  the  earnest  teachers  who  are  conscious 
of  limitations  and  are  reaching  hopefully  for  help.  On 
the  contrary,  the  discussion  is  full  of  real  sympathy, 
founded  upon  personal  experience  with  teaching  in  all 
its  phases,  and  abounds  in  stimulating  suggestion. 

M.  G.  B. 

October  1,  1900. 


PREFACE 
I/ 68  2- 

FOR  a  number  of  years  it  has  been  the  author's  duty  as 
well  as  privilege  to  lecture  at  county  institutes  on  the 
difficult  art  of  teaching  pupils  to  think.  This  led  to  the 
request  that  the  lectures  be  thrown  into  permanent  form 
for  publication.  The  lecturer  who  never  publishes  has 
no  pet  theories  to  defend ;  he  can  change  his  views  as 
often  as  he  sees  fit ;  yet,  in  spite  of  this  advantage,  he 
cannot  always  escape  or  ignore  the  art  of  printing.  One 
who  gives  his  thoughts  to  the  public  without  the  use  of 
manuscript  and  under  the  limitations  of  extemporaneous 
speech,  made  necessary  by  the  large  audiences  which 
gather  at  teachers'  institutes,  especially  in  Pennsylvania, 
runs  the  risk  of  being  misquoted  and  misunderstood ;  he 
pays  the  penalty  of  being  reported  in  fragmentary  if  not 
distorted  forms.  This  ultimately  drives  him,  in  justice 
to  himself  and  others,  to  write  out  his  theories  on  educa- 
tion and  to  give  them  to  his  coworkers  in  print. 

Portions  of  these  lectures  were  delivered  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  superintendents  of  New  England,  before 
the  State  teachers'  associations  of  Massachusetts,  Ehode 
Island,  and  Florida,  before  the  Connecticut  Council  of 
Education,  before  the  summer  schools  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Ohio  State  University  and  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  and  at  several  of  the  meetings  of  the  Na- 
tional Educational  Association.  The  favorable  hearing 
accorded  on  these  occasions  induces  the  hope  that  the 
lectures  will  be  kindly  received  by  many  who  teach  out- 


10  PREFACE. 

side  of  Pennsylvania,  and  by  some  who  give  instruction 
in  our  higher  institutions  of  learning. 

Although  no  one  can  hope,  on  so  difficult  a  theme,  to 
say  much  that  will  be  entirely  satisfactory  to  leading 
educators,  surely  no  apology  is  needed  from  any  one  who, 
after  spending  his  best  years  in  educational  work,  at- 
tempts to  contribute  his  mite  towards  the  solution  of  any 
of  the  problems  which  confront  the  teacher. 

It  is  assumed  that  there  is  a  body  of  educational  doc- 
trine well  established  in  the  minds  of  teachers,  and  that 
on  many  school  questions  we  have  advanced  beyond  the 
border  line  of  first  discovery.  Those  who  assert  that  our 
educational  practice  is  radically  wrong  and  in  need  of  thor- 
ough reformation  should  hasten  to  clarify  their  own  views 
and  ideas,  to  substitute  constructive  for  destructive  criti- 
cism, and  to  give  definite  shape  to  their  reforms ;  otherwise 
a  whole  generation  will  grow  to  maturity  and  the  reformers 
themselves  will  pass  away  before  any  of  their  reforms 
will  have  been  accomplished.  To  give  teachers  the  feel- 
ing that  what  they  are  doing  is  all  wrong,  and  to  leave 
them  without  anything  better  in  place  of  what  is  con- 
demned, robs  them  of  joy  in  their  work,  makes  them 
victims  of  worry  and  neurasthenia,  and  unfits  them  for 
the  care  of  children.  It  is  hoped  that  these  lectures  will 
be  found  to  suggest  a  better  way  whenever  criticism  is 
bestowed  upon  existing  methods  of  instruction. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  ridicule  the  arm-chair  psycholo- 
gists, or  the  advocates  of  child  study,  or  those  patient 
and  painstaking  workers  who  are  honestly  seeking  to 
establish  the  facts  of  mind  through  experiments  in  the 
laboratory.  He  who  has  carefully  reflected  upon  the  art  of 
making  pupils  think  will  not  hesitate  to  admit  that  thus 
far  he  has  received  more  light  from  the  standard  psychol- 
ogy than  from  the  labors  of  those  who  claim  to  be  the 
exponents  of  the  new  psychology.  The  latter  can  hardly 


PREFACE.  H 

write  or  talk  -without  using  the  terms  coined  by  the  older 
students  of  mind  ;  this  shows  their  indebtedness  to  those 
who  taught  and  speculated  before  laboratories  of  psychol- 
ogy were  established.  Sometimes  the  experiments  have 
only  served  to  test  and  give  a  reason  for  what  was  al- 
ready accepted.  Often  they  have  brought  to  our  knowl- 
edge facts  of  mind  which  could  never  have  been  discov- 
ered by  the  method  of  introspection.  In  either  case  the 
experiments  have  resulted  in  clear  gain.  Let  the  facts 
of  brain  and  mind,  of  nervous  and  mental  action,  of 
human  growth,  maturity,  and  decay  be  gathered,  ques- 
tioned, tested,  and  classified;  let  their  bearing  upon 
educational  practice  be  set  forth  in  the  clearest  possible 
light :  every  resulting  step  of  progress  and  reform  will  be 
hailed  with  delight  by  all  who  have  no  pet  theories  to 
defend. 

The  lecturer  is  limited  by  time,  by  the  kind  of  audi- 
ence which  he  addresses,  and  by  circumstances  largely 
beyond  his  control.  These  limitations  drop  out  when  he 
reduces  his  thoughts  to  writing,  and  a  rearrangement  at 
many  points  becomes  possible  as  well  as  desirable.  The 
expedients  for  relieving  the  strain  of  attention  and  win- 
ning back  the  listless  can  be  omitted  ;  and  omissions  that 
become  necessary  through  the  exigencies  of  the  pro- 
gramme must  be  supplied  for  the  sake  of  logical  sequence. 
Moreover,  the  aims  which  those  who  engage  the  lecturer 
set  before  him  frequently  require  a  modification  of  the 
line  of  discussion,  so  that  a  course  of  lectures  on  a  specific 
theme  cannot  always  follow  the  same  order  of  treatment, 
although  substantially  the  same  in  content  and  scope. 
Hence  the  division  into  chapters  has  been  adopted  as 
preferable  to  the  original  sequence  of  lectures.  Never- 
theless, the  style  of  the  rostrum  has  not  been  altogether 
eliminated,  because  when  oral  discourse  is  thrown  into 
new  forms,  and  the  phraseology  is  changed  for  the  sake 


12  PREFACE. 

of  publication,  the  loss  in  vividness,  directness,  and  sim- 
plicity is  greater  than  the  gain  in  diction  and  fulness  of 
statement. 

Lecturing,  as  well  as  book-making,  has  its  peculiar 
temptations.  The  lecturer  must  interest  his  hearers  in 
order  to  hold  them  ;  he  is  tempted  to  play  to  the  galleries, 
and  to  omit  what  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
average  audience.  The  book-maker,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  tempted  to  display  his  learning,  to  make  a  show  of 
depth  and  erudition.  The  student  of  pedagogy  is  sup- 
posed to  be  in  search  of  profound  wisdom.  Those  who 
write  for  him  often  dive  so  deep  that  their  style  becomes 
muddy.  Unfortunately,  some  of  the  best  treatises  on 
education  have  been  written  in  the  style  of  the  philoso- 
pher and  wrought  out  on  the  plane  of  the  university  pro- 
fessor, although  intended  for  undergraduates  at  normal 
schools,  and  for  teachers  whose  meagre  salaries  do  not 
enable  them  to  pursue  courses  of  study  at  institutions  of 
higher  learning.  The  lucid  style  of  Spencer's  treatise  on 
"Education"  has  done  much  to  counteract  this  tendency. 
Yet  many  of  the  authors  of  our  treatises  on  pedagogy 
seem  to  be  haunted  by  a  feeling  similar  to  that  of  the 
German  professor,  who,  on  reading  the  opening  chapters 
of  a  new  book,  and  finding  them  to  be  intelligible  to  his 
colleagues,  exclaimed,  "Then  I  must  rewrite  these  chap- 
ters ;  otherwise  nobody  will  read  my  book  through." 

Huxley  has  well  described  the  penalty  which  must  be 
paid  by  those  who  speak  or  write  for  the  purpose  of  being 
understood.  These  are  his  words  : 

"  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  popu- 
larization of  science,  whether  by  lecture  or  essay,  has  its 
drawbacks.  Success  in  this  department  has  its  perils  for 
those  who  succeed.  The  'people  who  fail'  take  their 
revenge,  as  we  have  recently  had  occasion  to  observe,  by 
ignoring  all  the  rest  of  a  man's  work  and  glibly  labelling 


PREFACE.  13 

* 

him  a  mere  popularizer.  If  the  falsehood  were  not  too 
glaring,  they  would  say  the  same  of  Faraday  and  Helm- 
holtz  and  Kelvin." 

One  who  can  never  hope  to  rival  the  style  of  Spencer 
and  Huxley  and  those  to  whom  the  latter  refers,  will 
nevertheless  do  well  to  emulate  their  skill  in  making 
difficult  things  plain  to  people  who  are  not  specialists  or 
experts.  He  who  writes  for  the  teachers  in  our  public 
schools  should  put  aside  his  ambition  to  be  considered 
erudite  or  profound,  and  endeavor  above  all  things  to  be 
understood.  Vague  theories  are  apt  to  beget  a  bad  con- 
science in  those  who  teach  and  to  destroy  the  joy  which 
every  one  has  a  right  to  feel  while  doing  honest  and 
faithful  work.  Hence  the  writer  offers  no  apology  for 
heaping  illustration  upon  illustration  in  the  effort  to 
make  his  meaning  plain  to  those  whom  he  aims  to  help. 

There  is  at  present  great  need  for  clear  thinking  and 
luminous  presentation  of  facts  on  the  part  of  all  who  write 
on  education  for  the  people  or  for  teachers  in  our  public 
schools.  By  a  process  similar  to  that  by  which  the 
mediaeval  imagination  swelled  the  murder  of  the  innocents 
at  Bethlehem  into  a  slaughter  of  thousands  of  children 
(there  cannot  have  been  many  male  children  two  years 
old  and  under  in  a  small  Judean  village),  the  harm  which 
some  pupils  suffer  is  magnified  into  a  national  crime  at 
the  feet  of  American  parents ;  the  evils  which  result 
from  "Bob  White"  societies,  from  children's  parties, 
from  church  sociables  for  young  boys  and  girls,  are  all 
ascribed  to  the  school  curriculum ;  and  reforms  in  home 
study  are  proposed  which  never  fail  to  provoke  a  smile 
on  the  face  of  a  healthy  boy. 

The  hygienic  conditions  of  the  average  school  are 
quite  equal  to  those  of  the  average  home.  The  health 
of  many  children  improves  during  their  attendance  at 
school.  The  pupils  who  are  born  with  a  sound  mind 


14  PREFACE. 

in  a  sound  body,  who  get  healthful  diet,  enough  sleep, 
and  treatment  from  their  elders  which  is  not  calculated 
to  make  them  nervous  or  unhappy,  show  none  of  the 
illness  from  overwork,  the  dulness  of  brain  from  fatigue, 
and  the  exhaustion  of  nervous  energy  which  are  made 
to  furnish  the  narrow  basis  of  fact  for  vague  and  broad 
generalizations.  The  haze  in  which  those  who  must  fur- 
nish the  printer  a  given  amount  of  copy  in  a  given  time 
are  apt  to  envelop  whatever  they  write  has  an  effect 
like  that  of  misty  air  upon  the  size  of  visible  objects. 
Travellers  who  have  come  into  a  cloud  while  ascending 
a  mountain  report  that  a  small  wood-pile  then  looks  like 
a  barn,  a  cow  seems  larger  than  an  elephant,  men  ap- 
pear as  giants,  and  the  surrounding  heights  assume 
threatening  proportions.  As  soon  as  sunlight  clears  the 
atmosphere,  objects  are  again  seen  in  their  true  dimen- 
sions. The  moment  the  light  of  common  sense  pene- 
trates the  haze  and  mist  and  fog  and  cloud  which  are 
used  to  heighten  the  effect  of  essays  upon  school  work, 
the  need  of  radical  reform  seems  far  less  urgent ;  and 
teachers,  instead  of  wasting  their  time  in  worry  and 
uncertainty,  begin  with  cheerful  heart  to  impart  that 
which  modern  civilization  requires  every  child  to  know 
as  a  condition  of  bread- winning  and  complete  living. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  worse  fault  than  obscurity  of 
style, — namely,  dearth  of  ideas.  The  danger  to  which 
the  lecturer  is  always  exposed,  that  of  losing  his  hearers 
and  failing  to  be  recalled  (their  minds  may  leave  while 
they  are  bodily  present),  spurs  to  effort  in  two  directions. 
Either  he  will  try  to  say  something  worth  listening  to,  or 
he  will  strive  to  entertain  by  amusing  stories  and  inci- 
dents. If  he  be  conscious  of  a  lack  of  talent  for  humor, 
he  will  try  to  stuff  his  lectures  full  of  sense.  If  the  lec- 
tures here  published  lack  in  this  respect,  the  writer  is 
milling  to  acknowledge  failure. 


PREFACE.  15 

In  preparing  a  course  of  lectures  it  is  proper  to  bear  in 
niind  the  difference  between  the  lecturer,  the  orator,  the 
poet,  and  the  philosopher.  The  philosopher  investigates 
ideas  and  truths,  explores  their  essence  and  relations, 
and  unfolds  them  in  their  deepest  unity  and  in  their 
greatest  possible  compass.  When  this  has  been  done 
throughout  the  whole  domain  of  thought,  his  mission  is 
accomplished.  The  poet  seeks  to  clothe  his  ideas  in 
beautiful  forms.  When  the  idea  is  perfectly  suited  to 
the  form  and  the  form  to  the  idea,  his  mission  is  accom- 
plished. The  orator  aims  to  move  the  will ;  he  quotes 
authorities,  uses  ideas,  appeals  to  the  feelings,  and  subor- 
dinates everything  to  the  one  end  of  gaining  a  verdict, 
winning  a  vote,  or  getting  a  response  in  the  conduct  of 
those  whom  he  addresses.  The  lecturer  seeks  to  impart 
information.  He  aims  to  get  a  response  in  the  thinking 
of  those  whom  he  addresses.  He  tries  to  reach  the  intel- 
lect rather  than  the  will.  Beautiful  language  and  ex- 
haustive treatment  are  not  essential  parts  of  his  mission. 
It  is  his  province  to  elucidate  the  theme  under  considera- 
tion, to  guide  the  efforts  and  inquiries  of  those  who  come 
to  him  for  instruction,  to  direct  them  to  the  sources  of 
information,  and  to  furnish  such  incentives  as  he  can 
towards  independent  study  and  investigation. 

Since  the  data  for  pedagogy  are  derived  mainly  from 
kindred  fields  of  investigation,  the  lecturer  on  the  sci- 
ence and  art  of  education  has  frequent  occasion  to 
cite  authorities  and  to  utilize  the  labors  and  conclu- 
sions of  the  men  eminent  in  the  sciences  which  throw 
light  upon  the  growth  of  the  child,  more  especially 
upon  the  development  of  mind  and  character.  The 
most  original  writers  quote  very  little,  and  those  who  are 
anxious  to  establish  a  reputation  for  originality  refrain 
from  quoting  others.  It  is  the  business  of  the  lecturer  to 
lead  the  hearer  to  the  sources  of  information.  When 


16  PREFACE. 

anything  has  been  so  well  said  that  he  cannot  improve 
upon  the  form  of  statement  it  is  proper  that  he  should 
quote  the  language,  carefully  giving  the  source  whence 
it  is  derived.  Without  doubt,  when  the  genius  appears 
who  will  do  for  pedagogy  what  Aristotle  did  for  logic 
and  Euclid  for  geometry,  he  will  so  polish  every  gem  he 
gets  from  others  and  give  it  a  setting  so  unique  and  ap- 
propriate that  the  world  will  recognize  the  touch  of  the 
master  and  acknowledge  the  contribution  as  peculiarly 
his  own  handiwork.  In  painting  and  sculpture  we  look 
to  the  past  for  the  greatest  works  of  art.  In  music  the 
century  now  closing  has  rivalled,  if  not  surpassed,  its 
predecessors.  In  the  science  and  art  of  education  the 
greatest  achievements  belong  to  the  future.  It  is  cur- 
rently reported  and  sometimes  believed  that  when  the 
president  of  a  celebrated  university  was  asked  why  he 
had  transferred  a  certain  professor  from  the  department 
of  geology  to  that  of  pedagogy,  he  replied,  "  I  thought 
the  fellow  would  do  less  harm  in  that  department."  If 
the  story  is  not  a  myth,  he  probably  meant  less  harm  to 
the  reputation  of  the  university.  When  in  our  day  a 
course  in  geology  or  logic  or  geometry  is  announced,  one 
can  foretell  the  ground  that  will  be  covered.  No  such 
prediction  can  be  made  with  reference  to  a  course  of  lec- 
tures on  teaching.  The  prophet  is  yet  to  come  who  will 
fix  the  scope  of  the  science  of  education  and  give  it  some- 
thing like  definite  and  abiding  shape. 

This  volume  is  not  designed  to  supplant  systematic 
treatises  on  psychology  and  logic.  Its  aim  is  to  throw 
light  upon  one  important  phase  of  the  art  of  teaching. 
If  it  contributes  but  two  mites  to  the  treasury  of  informa- 
tion on  the  science  and  art  of  education,  the  labor  be- 
stowed upon  it  has  not  been  in  vain.  Should  any  critic 
hint  that  two  mites  are  all  one  has  to  give,  it  may  be  said 
in  reply  that  it  is  better  to  give  something  than  to  give 


PREFACE.  17 

nothing  at  all,  and  that  according  to  Holy  Writ  the 
smallest  contributions  are  not  to  be  despised  if  made  in 
the  right  spirit.  And  it  may  add  to  the  critic's  stock  of 
ideas  to  be  informed  that  a  small  English  weight,  called 
mite,  outweighs  very  many  of  the  current  criticisms  upon 
modern  education,  that  of  this  small  weight  it  takes 
twenty  to  make  a  grain,  and  that  to  a  faithful  teacher  a 
tenth  of  a  grain  of  helpful  suggestion  is  worth  more  than 
many  tons  of  destructive  criticism. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAQK 

L — MAKE  THE  PUPILS  THINK 21 

II. — THINKING  IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS 35 

III. — THE  MATERIALS  OF  THOUGHT 47 

IV. — BASAL  CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL 63 

V. — THE  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT 85    * 

VI. — TECHNICAL  TERMS  AS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT    .    .     99 

VII. — THOUGHT  AND  LANGUAGE Ill  ^/ 

VIII.— THE  STIMULUS  TO  THINKING 123 

IX. — THE  RIGHT  USE  OF  BOOKS 137 

X. — OBSERVATION  AND  THINKING 165 

XI. — THE  MEMORY  AND  THINKING 167 

XII. — IMAGING  AND  THINKING 191 

XIII.— THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT 209 

XIV. — THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  READING  223 
XV. — THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  WRITING,   SPEAKING, 

AND  ORAL  READING 239 

XVI.— KINDS  OF  THINKING 255 

XVII.— THINKING  AND  KNOWING 269 

XVIII.— THINKING  AND  FEELING 289 

XIX.— THINKING  AND  WILLING 803 

XX.— THINKING  AND  DOING 317 

XXI. — THINKING  IN  THE  ARTS 331 

XXII. — THINKING  AND  THE  HIGHER  LIFE .   341 


21 


The  value  of  a  thought  cannot  be  told. 

BAILEY. 

He  who  will  not  reason  is  a  bigot ;  he  who  cannot  is  a  fool ;  he 
who  dares  not  is  a  slave. 

BYRON. 

Reason  is  the  glory  of  human  nature,  and  one  of  the  chief  emi- 
nences whereby  we  are  raised  above  the  beasts  in  this  lower 
world. 

WATTS. 

Man  is  not  the  prince  of  creatures, 
But  in  reason.     Fail  that,  he  is  worse 
Than  horse,  or  dog,  or  beast  of  wilderness. 

FIELD. 

Man  is  a  thinking  being,  whether  he  will  or  no.  All  he  can  do 
is  to  turn  his  thoughts  the  best  way. 

SIR  W.  TEMPLE. 


22 


I 

MAKE   THE   PUPILS   THINK 

FOR  the  purpose  of  testing  the  quality  of  gold  alloy 
jewellers  formerly  used  a  fine-grained  dark  stone,  called 
the  touchstone.  In  the  eyes  of  an  educator  A  test  of 
good  instruction  is  more  precious  than  pure  teaching. 
gold.  The  touchstone  by  which  he  tests  the  quality  of 
instruction,  so  as  to  distinguish  genuine  teaching  from 
its  counterfeit,  rote  teaching,  is  thinking.  The  school- 
master who  teaches  by  rote  is  satisfied  if  the  pupils 
repeat  his  words  or  those  of  the  book ;  the  true  teacher 
sees  to  it  that  the  pupils  think  the  thoughts  which  the 
words  convey. 

Thring,  who,  next  to  Arnold,  was  perhaps  the  greatest 
teacher  England  ever  had,  laid  much  stress  upon  think- 
ing. Sometimes  he  would  startle  a  dull  lad,  in  Thnng's 
the  midst  of  an  exercise,  by  asking,  "What  practice. 
have  you  got  sticking  up  between  your  shoulders?" 
"  My  head,"  was  the  reply.  "How  does  it  differ  from  a 
turnip  f '  And  by  questioning  he  would  elicit  the  answer, 
"The  head  thinks  ;  the  turnip  does  not." 

So  important  is  thinking  in  all  teaching  that  at  the 
World's  Educational  Congress,  in  1893,  one  educator 
after  another  rose  in  his  place  to  emphasize  the  views  of 
maxim,  "Make  the  pupils  think."  One  of  the  others, 
most  advanced  of  the  reformers  shouted  in  almost  frantic 
tones,  "Yes,  make  even  the  very  babies  think."  After 
the  wise  men  had  returned  to  their  homes,  a  Chicago 
periodical  raised  the  query,  ' '  How  can  you  stop  a  pupil 
from  thinking?"  And  the  conclusion  it  announced  was 

23 


24  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

that  neither  the  teacher  behind  the  desk  nor  the  tyrant 
upon  his  throne  can  stop  a  pupil  from  thinking.  Evi- 
dently, if  that  which  sticks  up  between  a  boy's  shoulders 
is  a  head  and  not  a  turnip,  if  the  pupil  is  rational  and  not 
an  imbecile  or  an  idiot,  he  does  some  thinking  for  himself ; 
and  the  maxim,  "Make  the  pupils  think,"  requires  further 
analysis  before  it  can  be  helpful  in  the  art  of  teaching. 

We  who  teach  are  very  apt  to  overestimate  thinking 
in  our  own  line  of  work  and  to  undervalue  thinking 
outside  of  the  school.  There  is,  perhaps,  as  much  good 
thought  in  a  lady's  bonnet  as  in  the  solution  of  a  quad- 
ratic equation.  A  sewing-machine  embodies  as  much 
genuine  thought  as  the  demonstration  of  a  geometrical 
theorem.  The  construction  of  a  locomotive  or  a  rail- 
way bridge  displays  as  much  effective  thinking  as 
Hegel's  "Philosophy  of  History,"  or  Kant's  "Critique 
of  the  Pure  Eeason. ' '  Most  men  think  very  well  in  doing 
Thinking  their  own  kind  of  work ;  in  many  other  spheres 
for  one's  of  activity  they  must  let  other  people  think  for 

self.    Rely-  -L,         *,  / 

ing  on  them,  when  the  professor  of  astronomy  dis- 
otners.  cusses  a  problem  connected  with  his  science,  he 
thinks  for  himself ;  but  when  he  buys  a  piece  of  land,  he 
gets  a  lawyer  to  think  for  him  in  the  examination  of  the 
title  and  the  preparation  of  the  deed.  The  lawyer 
thinks  for  himself  in  the  court-house  ;  but  when  he  goes 
home  to  dine,  he  expects  his  wife,  or  the  cook,  to  have 
done  the  thinking  for  him  in  the  preparation  of  the 
dinner.  Grover  Cleveland  had  the  reputation  of  think- 
ing for  himself:  many  a  politician  found  out  that  this 
reputation  was  founded  on  fact ;  but  when  the  ex-Presi- 
dent is  sick,  or  has  the  toothache,  he  is  willing  to  let  a 
physician  or  a  dentist  think  for  him.  In  like  manner, 
a  pupil  may  think  very  well  upon  the  play-ground  ;  but 
if  the  teacher,  whose  very  name  indicates  the  function  of 
guiding,  fails  to  guide  the  pupil  aright,  the  latter  may 


MAKE   THE  PUPILS   THINK.  25 

become  a  mere  parrot  in  the  class-room.     What,  then,  is 
involved  in  making  a  pupil  think  ? 

The  difficulty  in  answering  this  question  is  increased 
by  the  diversity  of  meanings  of  the  word  thinking.  The 
teacher  who  is  not  clear  in  his  use  of  the  term  may  em- 
ploy exercises  calculated  to  develop  one  kind  of  mental 
activity,  and  then  accuse  the  pupils  of  dulness  because 
they  do  not  show  facility  in  some  other  intellectual  pro- 
cess. When  a  text-book  on  mental  science  de-  Thinking 
fines  the  intellect  as  the  power  by  which  we  defined, 
think,  the  term  thinking  is  used  to  designate  every  form 
of  intellectual  activity.  The  Century  Dictionary  defines 
thinking  as  an  exercise  of  the  cognitive  faculties  in  any 
way  not  involving  outward  observation,  or  the  passive 
reception  of  ideas  from  other  minds.  The  logician 
defines  thinking  as  the  process  of  comparing  two  ideas 
through  their  relation  to  a  third.  Many  exercises  of  the 
school  are  supposed  to  cultivate  thinking  in  the  last  sense 
of  the  word,  when  in  reality  they  cultivate  thinking 
only  in  the  widest  acceptation  of  the  term. 

The  writer  saw  a  normal  school  principal  conduct  an 
exercise  in  thinking,  as  the  latter  called  it.     Turning  to 
one  of  the  pupils,  he  said,  ' '  Charley,  will  you     A  faulty 
please  think  of  something?"     As  soon  as  the     exercise. 
boy  raised  his  hand  the  principal  asked,  "Does  it  belong 
to  the  animal,  the  vegetable,  or  the  mineral  kingdom  !'• 
Then  turning  to  the  other  members  of  the  class,  he  said, 
"Who  of  you  can  think  of  the  vegetable  in  Charley's 
mind!"     The  names  of  at  least  forty  different  vegetables 
were  given  and  spelled  and  written  upon  the  black-board. 
At  last  a  pupil  succeeded  in  naming  what  was  in  Char- 
ley's mind.     Then  there  was  a  look  of  triumph  upon  the 
faces  of  the  principal  and  the  class,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"Isn't  that  splendid  thinking?"    At  least  one  person  felt 
like  burying  his  face  in  his  hands  for  very  shame ;  for 


26  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

here  was  resurrected  from  the  dead  an  old  exercise  of 
philanthropinism  which  was  buried  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago.  What  should  one  call  that  kind  of  mental 
activity?  Guessing.  That  is  all  it  is.  The  exercise 
tended  to  beget  a  habit  very  difficult  to  break  up  after  it 
has  been  formed. 

Far  better  was  an  exercise  which  the  writer  witnessed 
in  a  graded  school.  The  teacher  had  called  the  class  in 
A  tetter  the  second  reader.  As  soon  as  all  the  pupils 
plan.  were  seated  she  said,  "You  may  read  the  first 
paragraph."  Instead  of  reading  orally,  the  class  became 
so  quiet  that  one  might  have  heard  a  pin  drop.  After 
most  of  the  hands  were  raised  she  called  upon  one  pupil 
to  tell  what  the  paragraph  said.  The  second  paragraph 
was  read  and  the  substance  of  it  stated  in  the  pupil's  own 
words.  An  omission  was  supplied  by  another  pupil ;  an 
incorrect  phrase  was  modified  by  giving  the  correct 
words  for  conveying  the  thought.  In  the  course  of  the 
lesson  it  became  necessary  to  clarify  the  ideas  of  some. 
This  was  accomplished  by  a  few  pertinent  questions 
which  made  the  pupils  think  for  themselves.  After  the 
entire  lesson  had  been  read  in  this  way  she  dismissed  the 
class  without  assigning  a  lesson.  Every  member  of  the 
class  went  to  his  seat,  took  out  his  slate,  and  began  to 
write  out  the  lesson  in  his  own  language.  The  interest 
and  pleasure  depicted  on  their  faces  showed  that  it  was 
not  a  task  but  a  joy  to  express  thought  by  the  pencil. 
The  teacher  had  given  them  something  to  think  about ; 
she  had  taught  them  to  express  their  thoughts  in  spoken 
and  written  language ;  her  questions  had  stimulated 
their  thinking,  and  when,  later  in  the  day,  the  lesson  in 
oral  reading  was  given,  the  vocal  utterance  showed  that 
every  pupil  understood  what  he  was  reading.  There  was 
no  parrot-like  utterance  of  vocables,  but  an  expression 
of  thought  based  upon  a  thorough  understanding  and 


MAKE    THE  PUPILS   THINK.  27 

appreciation  of  what  was  read.  The  silent  reading  was 
an  exercise  in  thought-getting  and  thought-begetting,  the 
language  lesson  upon  the  slate  was  an  exercise  in  active 
thinking  through  written  words,  and  the  oral  expression 
furnished  a  test  by  which  the  teacher  could  ascertain 
what  she  had  accomplished  in  getting  her  pupils  to  think.. 

The  first  thing  necessary  in  making  the  pupil  think  is 
best  shown  by  relating  another  incident.  The  catalogue 
of  a  well-known  school  announced  that  the  teachers  were 
aiming  to  get  their  pupils  to  read  Latin  at  sight  and  to 
think  in  more  tongues  than  one.  A  captious  superin- 
tendent wrote  to  the  principal,  saying,  "I  envy  you. 
How  do  you  do  it !  We  would  be  satisfied  if  we  could 
make  pupils  think  in  English."  The  reply  was  equally 
sharp  and  suggestive  :  "  You  ask  how  we  make  A  sugges- 
pupils  think.  I  answer,  By  giving  them  some-  tive  revlJ- 
thing  to  think  about.  If  you  ask  how  we  make  them 
think  in  more  tongues  than  one,  I  answer,  By  giving 
them,  in  addition  to  the  materials  of  thought,  the  instru- 
ments of  thought  as  found  in  two  or  more  languages." 

The  first  step  in  training  a  pupil  to  think  is  to  furnish 
him  proper  materials  of  thought,  to  develop  in  his  mind 
the  concepts  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  a  branch  The  first 
of  study,  and  which  must  be  analyzed,  com-  essential. 
pared,  and  combined  in  new  forms  during  the  prosecu- 
tion of  that  study.  Just  as  little  as  a  boy  can  draw  fish 
from  an  empty  pond,  so  little  can  he  draw  ideas,  thoughts, 
and  conclusions  from  an  empty  head.  If  the  fundamental 
ideas  are  not  carefully  developed  when  the  study  of  a 
new  science  is  begun,  all  subsequent  thinking  on  the 
part  of  the  pupil  is  necessarily  hazy;  uncertain,  unsatis- 
factory. How  can  a  pupil  compare  two  ideas  or  concepts 
and  join  them  in  a  correct  judgment  if  there  is  nothing 
in  his  mind  except  the  technical  terms  by  which  the 
scientist  denotes  these  ideas  ?  The  idea  of  number  lies  at 


28  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO    THINK. 

the  basis  of  arithmetic.  How  often  are  beginners  ex- 
pected to  think  in  figures  without  having  a  clear  idea  of 
what  figures  denote !  What  teacher  has  not  seen  chil- 
dren wrestling  with  fractions  who  had  no  idea  of  a  frac- 
tion save  that  of  two  figures,  one  above  the  other,  with  a 
line  between  them  !  How  many  of  our  arithmetics  are 
full  of  problems  involving  business  transactions  of  which 
the  pupil  cannot  possibly  have  an  adequate  idea  !  Not 
having  clear  ideas  of  the  things  to  be  compared,  how  can 
the  learner  form  clear  and  accurate  judgments  and  con- 
clusions ? 

So  essential  to  correct  thinking  is  the  development  of 
the  concepts  and  ideas  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  each  sci- 

Proper  encej  that  we  may  designate  the  giving  to  the 
thought-  pupil  of  something  to  think  about  as  the  first 
material.  an(j  mos^  important  step  in  the  solution  of  the 
educational  problem  before  us.  In  other  words,  the  fur- 
nishing of  the  proper  materials  of  thought  is  the  first 
step  in  teaching  others  to  think.  The  force  and  the 
validity  of  this  proposition  are  easily  seen  if  we  reflect 
upon  the  essential  oneness  of  the  manifold  diversities  of 
thinking  as  they  appear  at  school  and  in  subsequent  years. 

It  is  universally  conceded  that  education  should  be  a 
preparation  for  life.  The  thinking  at  school  should  be 
an  adumbration  of  the  thinking  beyond  the  school.  The 
possession  of  enough  data,  or  thought- materials,  for  reach- 
ing trustworthy  conclusions,  which  is  the  indispensable 
requisite  of  successful  thinking  at  school,  is  likewise  a 
necessary  requisite  of  successful  thinking  in  practical 
life.  It  behooves  us  to  inquire  into  the  nature  and  foun- 
Thinking  dation  of  the  thinking  of  men  in  the  profes- 

inthe      sions,  and  in  other  vocations,  for  the  purpose 

of   gaining    further  light  upon    the    problem 

before  us.     Let  us,  then,  inquire  into  the  nature  and 

foundation  of  the  thinking  of  men  eminent  in  a  profes- 


MAKE   THE  PUPILS   THINK.  29 

sion  or  prominent  in  some  other  vocation.  The  profes- 
sional man  may  have  less  native  ability,  less  general 
knowledge,  less  culture  and  education,  less  mental  power 
than  the  client  whom  he  advises  or  the  patient  for  whom 
he  prescribes ;  and  yet  his  inferences  and  conclusions 
are  accepted  as  more  trustworthy  than  those  of  men  out- 
side of  the  given  profession,  because  he  has  a  knowledge 
of  facts  and  data  which  they  do  not  possess.  If  he  be  a 
physician,  special  training  and  professional  experience 
have  taught  him  how  to  observe  the  symptoms  of  differ- 
ent diseases ;  how  to  eliminate  sources  of  doubt  and 
error  ;  how  to  reach  a  correct  diagnosis  of  difficult  cases, 
and  how  to  apply  the  proper  remedies.  If  he  be  a 
lawyer,  he  has  been  taught  how  to  examine  court  records  ; 
how  to  detect  and  guard  against  flaws  in  legal  docu- 
ments ;  how  to  find  and  interpret  the  law  in  specific 
cases ;  how  to  protect  the  life  and  property  of  his  client. 
The  judge  on  the  bench  is  learned  in  the  law,  though  he 
may  be  ignorant  of  science,  literature,  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  manufactures.  He  is  aided  in  arriving  at  cor- 
rect conclusions  by  thought-materials  which  are  not  in 
the  possession  of  laymen. 

How  does  the  thinking  of  an  expert  differ  from  that  of 
other  men?  Xot  so  much  in  the  processes  of  The thinking 
thought  as  in  the  data  upon  which  he  reasons.  of  experts. 
An  ordinary  witness  may  testify  as  to  matters  of  fact ; 
the  expert  is  supposed  to  possess  extensive  knowledge  and 
superior  discrimination  in  a  particular  branch  of  learning 
or  practice ;  hence  he  may  be  a  witness  in  matters  as  to 
which  ordinary  observers  cannot  form  just  conclusions, 
and  he  is  held  liable  for  negligence  in  case  he  injures 
another  from  want  of  proper  qualifications  or  proper 
use  of  the  thought-materials  necessary  to  form  trust- 
worthy conclusions.  From  this  point  of  view  we  can  see 
new  force  and  beauty  in  the  remark  of  Fitch  that  teach- 


30  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ing  is  the  noblest  of  the  professions,  but  the  sorriest  of 
trades.  The  aim  of  a  trade  is  to  make  something  that 
will  sell ;  its  ultimate  aim  is  money,  a  livelihood. 
Teaching  and  the  other  professions,  although  they  cannot 
be  sundered  from  money- making,  have  a  nobler  aim. 
This  arises  out  of  the  thought-materials  with  which  they 
deal.  If  a  teacher's  mind  does  not  busy  itself  with 
these,  he  sinks  to  the  level  of  a  tradesman.  A  very  keen 
Teaching  observer  said  of  the  head  of  a  large  boarding- 
not  a  trade,  school,  that  he  had  learned  his  trade  from  the 
principal  of  a  large  normal  school  under  whom  he  had 
been  trained.  The  remark,  if  true,  was  severe,  but  sig- 
nificant. It  was  an  intimation  that  the  substance  of  the 
thinking  of  these  two  men  was  business  rather  than  edu- 
cation ;  that  -their  conversation  about  the  quality  of  the 
beef  and  mutton  served,  about  the  loaves  of  bread,  the 
pounds  of  butter,  and  the  bushels  of  potatoes  consumed 
each  week,  indicated  that  they  were  thinking  more  of 
the  stomach  and  the  purse  than  of  the  things  of  the 
mind  ;  that  their  aim  was  a  large  attendance  and  a  large 
cash-balance  at  the  end  of  the  year  rather  than  the 
mental  growth  and  professional  preparation  of  their  stu- 
dents. Their  thinking  was  efficient  and  trustworthy  in 
the  domain  in  which  it  was  exercised.  It  partook  of  the 
nature  of  trade-thinking,  and  lacked  professional  quality 
because  it  did  not  concern  itself  with  problems  of  mental 
growth  and  moral  training,  with  the  proper  sequence  of 
studies,  with  the  educational  value  of  different  kinds  of 
knowledge,  and  with  the  best  methods  of  economizing 
the  time  and  effort  of  their  students. 

In  several  aspects  teaching  is  like  a  trade.     Every  art 

has  its  mysteries,  with  which  those  who  practise  it  must 

be  familiar  if  they  would  succeed.     Teaching  is 

no  exception ;   and  if  the  annual  institute  or 

the  school  of  pedagogy  fails  to  clarify  these  mysteries 


MAKE   THE  PUPILS   THINK.  31 

by  putting  the  teachers  in  possession  of  materials  for 
thought  and  of  methods  of  applying  knowledge  to  beget 
thinking  which  are  not  within  the  ken  of  the  average 
parent  and  the  general  public,  then  failure  must  be 
written  over  the  outcome.  A  mystery  is  a  lesson  to  be 
learned.  A  scrutiny  of  the  mysteries  which  characterize 
every  trade  and  every  art  will  serve  not  merely  to  em- 
phasize the  necessity  for  furnishing  proper  thought- 
materials,  but  will  be  helpful  also  in  paving  the  way  for 
the  consideration  of  another  essential  in  training  pupils 
to  think.  Let  us  view  them  in  the  concrete. 

A  machinist,  who  was  also  a  skilled  mechanic,  was 
compelled  by  circumstances  to  quit  his  trade  and  to 
accept  a  position  as  janitor.  One  day  the  pipe 
leading  from  the  sink  to  the  sewer  was  clogged. 
The  teacher,  in  conjunction  with  a  carpenter,  worked  a 
long  time  to  fix  it,  but  in  vain.  The  janitor  was  called, 
who  in  a  few  moments  overcame  the  difficulty  by  the  ap- 
plication of  a  principle  in  natural  philosophy  on  which 
the  teacher  could  have  talked  learnedly,  although  he 
knew  not  how  to  apply  it  in  the  given  case.  The  janitor 
related  how  the  foreman  in  a  foundry  was  baffled  in  the 
effort  to  bore  a  hole  through  a  piece  of  iron  until  a  work- 
man, trained  under  a  foreign  master,  suggested  the  pur- 
chase of  two  things  at  a  drug-store  by  means  of  which 
the  hole  was  easily  bored.  When  the  druggist  asked 
about  the  use  that  was  to  be  made  of  these  chemicals, 
he  was  told  that  the  use  was  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
machinist's  trade. 

Next,  the  carpenter  fixed  the  mortise  lock  of  a  door 
which  needed  attention,  and  the  others  lauded  the  skill 
with  which  he  handled  his  tools  and  applied  his  knowl- 
edge. Before  the  three  separated,  the  janitor's  son 
came  with  a  word  which  he  could  not  find  in  his  lexi- 
con. With  the  aid  of  chalk  and  black-board  and  gram- 


32  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

mar,  the  teacher  showed  how  to  dig  out  the  roots  of  a 
Greek  verb  and  what  beautiful  changes  occur  in  its  con- 
jugation. •  The  turn  had  come  for  the  tradesmen  to  ad- 
mire the  mysterious  skill  and  power  of  the  teacher. 

In  applying  the  principle  of  natural  philosophy,  the 
janitor  made  skilful  use  of  one  or  two  tools  which  the 
teacher  and  the  carpenter  had  never  seen,  He  could 
express  thought  through  the  tools  of  his  own  handicraft, 
in  ways  that  they  could  not.  Each  one  of  the  three 
men  knew  the  tools  and  the  mysteries  of  his  own  vocation. 
During  the  entire  scene  there  was  not  a  logical  flaw  in 
the  thinking  of  any  one  of  them.  Probably  there  was 
little  difference  in  their  native  ability ;  certainly  none  in 
the  fundamental  nature  of  their  thought-processes.  The 
practical  difference  resulted  from  the  data  at  their  com- 
mand and  from  the  tools  they  were  using  to  express  the 
thoughts  peculiar  to  their  several  vocations. 

The  power  to  use  tools,  instruments,  and  machinery 
lifts  man  above  the  brute  creation.  There  is  labor- 
saving  machinery  in  thinking  as  well  as  in  maual  labor. 
Man,  the  The  more  perfect  the  tools  with  which  we  work 
tool-user,  the  greater  the  results  we  can  achieve  without 
waste  of  effort.  In  thinking  as  well  as  in  working  we 
must  use  the  best  tools  in  order  to  attain  the  greatest 
facility  and  efficiency.  Yonder  are  two  wheat-fields.  In 
one  of  them  a  giant  is  wielding  the  sickle  of  our  fore- 
fathers ;  in  the  other  a  youth,  not  yet  out  of  his  teens, 
is  at  work.  At  the  close  of  the  day  the  work  of  the 
giant  will  not  bear  comparison  with  that  of  the  lad,  be- 
cause the  latter  was  sitting  upon  a  self-binder.  They  had 
the  same  material  to  work  upon,  yet,  in  spite  of  his  superior 
strength,  the  giant  could  not  cope  with  his  weaker  though 
better-equipped  competitor.  In  like  manner,  the  youth 
who  has  mastered  the  algebraic  equation,  or  the  sym- 
bols and  formulas  of  chemistry,  is  in  many  respects  the 


MAKE   THE  PUPILS   THINK.  33 

superior  of  a  much  brighter  man  who  is  not  in  possession 
of  these  tools  or  instruments  of  thought.     A  boy  of 
average  capacity  who  goes  through  a  good  high      instru- 
school    thereby  acquires  certain   fundamental     mentsof 

,.       thought 

ideas  and  the    accompanying   instruments  of  the  second 
thought  by  which  he  is  enabled  to  solve  prob-     essential. 
lems  entirely  beyond  the  power  of  a  much  brighter  boy 
who  never  studies  beyond  the  grammar  grade. 

The  instruments  of  thought  are  generally  spoken  of  as 
symbols,  whilst  the  materials  of  thought  are  the  things 
for  which  the  symbols  stand.  In  thinking,  the  mind 
may  employ  the  ideas  which  correspond  to  the  things  in 
the  external  world ;  or  it  may  employ  the  symbols  by 
which  science  indicates  things  that  have  been  definitely 
fixed  or  quantified.  Failure  to  distinguish  the  sign  from 
the  thing  signified,  the  symbol  from  its  reality,  . 

leads  to  confusion  in  thought  and  to  the  most  in  thought 
disastrous  results  in  mental  development.     Loss    and_PEtl9: 

tlC6 

of  appetite  for  knowledge  must  inevitably  re- 
sult from  methods  of  teaching  by  which  the  pupil  is 
expected  to  learn  the  sounds  of  the  letters  from  their 
names,  or  musical  sounds  from  the  notation  on  the  staff, 
or  the  ideas  of  number  from  the  arabic  notation,  or  a 
knowledge  of  flowers  from  the  technical  terms  of  a  text- 
book, or  a  knowledge  of  chemical  elements  and  sub- 
stances from  the  definitions,  descriptions,  and  formulas 
of  a  scientific  treatise.  The  symbol  is  indispensable  in 
advanced  thinking  ;  but  to  expect  the  learner  to  get  the 
fundamental  ideas  of  a  science  from  words,  symbols,  and 
definitions  is  evidence  that  the  teacher  does  not  under- 
stand the  nature  of  thinking.  It  may,  therefore,  be 
helpful  to  set  forth  clearly  the  important  distinction 
between  thinking  in  things  and  thinking  in  symbols ;  to 
point  out  their  relative  value  in  mental  development; 
and  to  fix  their  place  in  a  rational  system  of  education. 

3 


85 


The  rote  system,  like  other  systems  of  its  age,  made  more  of  forms 
and  symbols  than  of  the  things  symbolized.  To  repeat  the  words 
correctly  was  everything,  to  understand  the  meaning  nothing ;  and 
thus  the  spirit  was  sacrificed  to  the  letter. 

HERBERT  SPENCER. 

Words  are  men's  daughters,  but  God's  sons  are  things. 

JOHNSON. 

For  words 'are  wise  men's  counters, — they  do  but  reckon  by 
them, — but  they  are  the  money  of  fools. 

HOBBES. 

It  is  only  by  the  help  of  language  (or  some  other  equivalent  set 
of  signs)  that  we  can  think  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word  ;  that  is 
to  say,  consider  things  under  their  general  or  common  aspects. 

SULLY. 


II 

THINKING  IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS 

WITHIN  half  a  mile  of  the  Susquehanna  Eiver  a  teacher" 
•was  asking  the  class,  "  Of  what  is  the  earth's  surface 
composed?"  "Of  land  and  water,"  was  the  reply.  In 
answer  to  a  question  by  the  superintendent  concerning 
the  earth's  surface,  one  boy  declared  that  he  had  LeSSOn  m 
never  seen  the  earth.  He  had  been  acquiring  geography. 
words  without  the  corresponding  ideas.  Turning  to 
another  boy,  this  official  said,  "Will  you  please  show 
me  water?"  With  a  gleam  of  satisfaction  on  his  face, 
the  lad  raised  his  atlas,  pointed  to  the  'Wue  coloring 
around  the  map  of  North  America,  and  saidf  ^  That  is 
water."  "Will  you  please  drink  it?"  The  expression 
on  the  faces  of  teacher  and  pupils  indicated  that  all  felt 
as  if  some  one  had  committed  a  blunder.  Where  did 
the  blunder  lie?  Had  the  teacher  taught  what  should 
not  be  learned?  Surely,  every  child  should  learn  how 
water  is  indicated  on  a  map.  Did  the  boy  use  language 
wrong  in  idiom  ?  By  no  means ;  for,  as  every  student 
who  has  handled  a  lexicon  well  knows,  many  words  have 
both  a  literal  and  a  tropical,  or  figurative,  meaning.  If, 
pointing  to  an  object,  the  teacher  says,  "This  is  a  desk," 
he  uses  the  word  is  in  its  literal  sense.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  he  points  to  a  division  on  the  map  of  the  United 
States,  and  says,  "This  is  Pennsylvania,"  he  does  not 
mean  that  the  colored  surface  to  which  he  is  pointing  is 
the  real  State  of  Pennsylvania  (if  it  were,  a  political  boss 
could  pocket  it,  and  carry  it  the  rest  of  his  days  with- 

37 


38  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

out  further  trouble).  What  is  meant  is,  that  a  given  space 
on  the  map  indicates  or  represents  Pennsylvania,  the 
word  is  being  used,  in  the  latter  instance,  in  a  figurative 
sense.  Whether  the  word  is,  in  the  expression,  ' '  This  is 
my  body,"  should  be  understood  in  a  literal  or  in  a  figura- 
tive sense  has  been  discussed  for  ages  in  the  Christian 
church.  In  the  answer  of  the  boy  we  strike  a  distinc- 
tion in  thought  that  lies  at  the  basis  of  good  teaching  in 
all  grades  of  schools,  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  uni- 
TWO  kinds  versity,  — namely,  the  distinction  between  think- 
°f  ing  in  things  and  thinking  in  symbols.  In  one 
sense  of  the  word,  all  thinking  is  symbolic ; 
for  the  percepts,  concepts,  and  images  of  external 
objects  which  the  mind  employs  in  the  thinking  process 
are  symbolic  of  the  things  for  which  they  stand.  But  in 
advanced  thinking,  and  especially  in  scientific  investi- 
gations, objective  symbols,  such  as  words,  signs,  letters, 
equations,  formulas,  technical  terms  and  expressions,  are 
utilized  to  facilitate  the  thinking  process.  Take  the  age 
questions  in  mental  arithmetic  that  have  been  prematurely 
inflicted  upon  so  many  pupils  in  the  public  schools.  So 
long  as  the  mind  consciously  carries  A's  age  and  the  wife's 
age,  using  the  clumsy  instruments  of  arithmetical  analy- 
sis, the  thinking  is  difficult  indeed.  As  soon  as  #  is  made 
the  symbol  of  A's  age,  and  y  the  symbol  of  the  wife's 
age,  so  that  the  conditions  of  the  problem  can  be  thrown 
into  algebraic  equations,  the  difficulty  vanishes.  In  the 
algebraic  solution  the  mind  drops  all  thought  of  A's  age 
and  the  wife's  age  while  manipulating  the  signs  and 
symbols  of  the  equation,  and  restores  the  meaning  of 
the  symbols  only  when  their  value  in  figures  has  been 
found.  The  algebraic  solution  is  a  genuine  specimen  of 
thinking  in  symbols,  and  illustrates  the  labor-saving 
machinery  which  the  human  mind  employs,  more  or  less, 
in  all  the  most  difficult  scientific  investigations. 


THINKING  IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS.          39 

What  is  a  symbol?  It  is  a  mark,  sign,  or  visible 
representation  of  an  idea.  The  mathematician  uses  the 
symbol  to  represent  quantities,  operations,  and  symbol 
relations.  The  chemist  uses  the  symbol  to  deflned- 
indicate  elements  and  their  groupings  or  combinations. 
The  theologian  applies  the  term  symbol  to  creeds  and 
abstract  statements  of  doctrine.  The  grips,  countersigns, 
and  passwords  of  a  secret  society  may  be  spoken  of  as 
symbols  of  the  ideas,  aims,  and  principles  of  the  organi- 
zation. Often  the  symbol  is  chosen  on  account  of  some 
supposed  resemblance  between  it  and  that  for  which  it 
stands,  as  when  black  is  made  the  symbol  of  mourning, 
white  of  purity,  the  oak  of  strength,  and  the  sword  of 
slaughter.  UA  symbol,"  says  Kate  Douglass  Wiggin. 
11  may  be  considered  to  be  a  sensuous  object  which  sug- 
gests an  idea,  or  it  may  be  denned  as  the  sign  or  repre- 
sentation of  something  moral  or  intellectual  by  the 
images  or  properties  of  natural  things,  as  we  commonly 
say,  for  instance,  that  the  lion  is  the  symbol  of  courage, 
the  dove  the  symbol  of  gentleness.  It  need  not  be  an 
object  any  more  than  an  action  or  an  event,  for  the 
emerging  of  the  butterfly  from  the  chrysalis  may  be  a 
symbol  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  or  the  silver 
lining  of  the  cloud  typify  the  joy  that  shines  through 
adversity. ' '  Frequently  the  symbol  is  chosen  arbitrarily, 
or  because  it  is  the  first  letter  of  the  word  which  denotes 
the  quality,  substance,  thing,  or  idea  for  which  the  symbol 
stands.  Generally  the  symbol  is  a  visible  representation, 
but  it  may  also  address  the  other  senses,  notably  the  ear 
and  the  sense  of  touch.  The  Standard  Dictionary 
excludes  the  portrait  from  the  extent  or  scope  of  the 
symbol,  and  confines  it  to  the  representation  of  that 
which  is  not  capable  of  portraiture,  as  an  idea,  state, 
quality,  or  action.  It  is  well  to  bear  this  limitation  in 
mind  during  the  present  discussion. 


40  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

A  few  illustrations  will  serve  to  fix  the  sense  of  the 
word  symbol.  In  some  parts  of  America  the  tramps 
have  a  system  of  symbols  of  their  own,  a  given 
mark  on  the  front  gate  indicating  a  good  place 
to  ask  for  a  meal,  another  indicating  a  cross  dog  in  the 
rear  yard.  That  which  the  tramp  fears  or  likes  is  not 
the  mark  which  he  sees,  but  a  very  real  thing  which  that 
mark  suggests  to  his  mind.  A  number  of  the  apostles 
were  fishermen  by  trade.  The  fish  became  a  very  sig- 
nificant symbol  in  the  days  of  early  Christianity.  The 
letters  in  the  Greek  name  for  fish  are  the  initial  letters 
of  the  expression,  Jesus  Christ,  God's  Son,  Saviour.  It  is 
one  of  many  instances  showing  how  the  human  mind 
delights  in  heaping  symbol  upon  symbol  to  conceal 
precious  meanings  from  the  uninitiated. 

What  was  the  mental  condition  of  the  lad  spoken  of  at 
the  beginning  of  this  chapter  ?  The  boy  knew  the  real 
symbols  thing  long  before  he  knew  the  first  symbol  for 
for  water.  water.  Without  doubt  he  had  tasted  it,  played 
in  it  against  his  mother's  will,  been  washed  in  it  against 
his  own  will,  for  months  before  he  learned  the  first  sym- 
bol for  water  used  in  common  by  him  and  others,  which 
was  probably  the  spoken  word.  Up  to  that  time  he 
thought  of  water  in  some  mental  picture  or  image  which 
had  been  formed  upon  the  eye  and  then  upon  mind  some- 
what as  the  picture  is  formed  through  the  art  of  the  pho- 
tographer. Up  to  the  time  that  he  learned  the  spoken 
word  for  water  this  liquid  suggested  mental  pictures 
which  constituted  a  thinking  in  things  *  rather  than  in 
symbols,  using  the  latter  term  according  to  the  limitation 
set  by  the  Standard  Dictionary.  On  entering  school  he 

*  For  brevity's  sake  the  phrase,  thinking  in  things,  is  preferred 
to  the  more  accurate  but  less  convenient  expression,  thinking  in 
the  images  of  things. 


THINKING  IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS.          41 

was  taught  to  read  ;  he  added  to  the  ear- symbol  the  eye- 
symbol, — that  is,  the  written  or  printed  word,  which  he 
may  have  associated  at  first  with  the  real  thing,  or  with 
the  spoken  word  ;  of  course,  very  soon  with  both,  if  cor- 
rect methods  of  teaching  were  followed.  Next,  he  was 
taught  the  map-symbol.  The  blunder  which  the  teacher 
on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  had  committed  con- 
sisted not  in  teaching  how  water  is  indicated  on  a  map, 
but  in  not  pointing  to  the  majestic  river  near  the  school- 
house,  and  associating  the  water  in  its  channel  with  the 
representations  of  water  on  a  map.  If  the  boy  studied 
Latin  or  Greek,  he  was  taught  new  symbols  for  water  in 
the  corresponding  words  of  these  languages.  If  he  studied 
chemistry,  he  early  learned  the  composition  of  water,  and 
was  thenceforth  taught  to  write  it  H^O,  a  symbol  en- 
shrining a  new  truth  and  lifting  him  to  higher  planes  of 
thought  by  giving  him  a  new  instrument  as  well  as  new 
materials  of  thought. 

Half  the  errors  in  teaching  arise  from  the  fact  that  the 
teacher  does  not  constantly  bear  in  mind  the  distinction 
between  the  symbol  and  the  thing  for  which  the  sources  of 
symbol  stands,  thus  giving  rise  to  confusion  in  error- 
the  mind  of  the  learner.  A  class  was  bounding  the 
different  States  of  the  Union.  At  the  close  of  the  recita- 
tion the  superintendent  suggested  that  the  class  bound 
the  school-house.  It  was  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
roof,  on  the  south  by  the  cellar,  on  the  east  and  west  by 
walls.  The  geography  classes  of  an  entire  city  were 
caught  in  that  way.  Either  the  pupils  had  not  been 
taught,  or  else  they  had  forgotten  the  difference  between 
the  real  directions  and  the  ordinary  representation  of 
them  on  the  surface  of  a  wall  map.  Sometimes  the  con- 
fusion exists  in  the  mind  of  the  teacher  as  well  as  in  the 
minds  of  the  pupils.  Then  he  expects  them  to  learn  one 
thing  while  he  teaches  them  another.  By  the  methods 


42  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

formerly  in  vogue  the  pupil  was  expected  to  learn  the 
sounds  of  the  letters  from  their  names ;  the  pronuncia- 
Eiementary  tion  of  the  word  from  the  names  of  the  let- 
instruction,  ^pg  which  compose  it ;  the  names,  forms,  and 
sounds  of  letters  from  the  word  taught  as  a  whole ;  the 
musical  sounds  from  the  notation  on  a  musical  staff ;  the 
ideas  of  number,  of  fractions,  from  the  corresponding 
symbols ;  the  units  of  denominate  numbers  and  of  the 
metric  system  from  the  names  used  in  the  tables  of 
weights  and  measures  ;  the  flowers  of  the  field  from  the 
nomenclature  of  the  botany  ;  the  substances  and  experi- 
ments in  chemistry  from  the  descriptions  and  pictures  of 
a  text-book.  Such  teaching  has  given  rise  to  endless  lec- 
tures, editorials,  and  discussions  upon  the  use  of  the  con- 
crete in  teaching,  upon  the  value  of  thinking  in  things, 
upon  the  importance  of  object-lessons,  laboratory  meth- 
ods, and  the  like. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  the  question.  There 
comes  a  time  in  the  development  of  the  pupil  when  he 
must  rise  above  the  sticks  and  shoe- pegs  and  blocks  of 

More  the  elementary  arithmetic,  and  learn  to  think 
advanced  in  the  symbols  of  the  Arabic  notation.  Later 
he  must  learn  to  think  in  the  more  comprehen- 
sive symbols  of  the  algebraic  notation.  He  must  learn 
to  think  the  abstract  and  general  concepts  of  science, 
and,  in  thinking  these,  to  use  the  devices,  technical  terms, 
and  other  symbols  which  the  scientists  have  invented  to 
facilitate  their  thinking. 

Hear  a  parable.  A  teacher  sat  down  to  dinner.  The 
waiter  handed  him  the  bill  of  fare.  The  pro- 
prietor followed  the  waiter  to  the  kitchen, 
directed  him  to  cut  out  the  names  of  the  eatables«rhich 
had  been  ordered,  and  to  carry  these  names  on  plates  to 
the  dining-room.  "It  is  not  these  words,"  exclaimed 
the  guest,  "that  I  desire  to  eat,  but  the  things  in  the 


THINKING  IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS.          43 

kitchen  for  which  these  words  stand."  "  Isn't  that  what 
you  pedagogues  are  doing  all  the  time,  expecting  chil- 
dren to  make  an  intellectual  meal  on  words  such  as  are 
found  in  the  columns  of  the  spelling-book  and  attached 
on  maps  to  the  black  dots  which  you  call  cities  ?  My 
boy  gravely  informs  me  that  every  State  capital  has  its 
ring,  because  on  his  map  there  is  always  a  ring  around 
the  dot  called  the  capital  of  a  country."  The  teacher 
was  forced  to  admit  that  there  is,  alas !  too  much  truth 
in  the  allegation.  In  the  afternoon  he  took  revenge. 
Knowing  that  the  proprietor  had  a  thousand- dollar  draft 
to  be  cashed,  he  arranged  with  the  banker  to  have  it 
paid  in  silver  coin.  When  the  landlord  saw  the  grow- 
ing heap  of  coin,  he  exclaimed,  "If  I  must  be  paid  in 
silver,  can  you  not  give  me  silver  certificates?"  "Did 
you  not  intimate  to  me,"  said  the  teacher,  tapping  him 
on  the  shoulder,  "that  it  is  the  real  things  we  want,  and 
not  words  and  symbols  which  stand  for  realities?"  The 
landlord  was  obliged  to  admit  that  in  the  larger  transac- 
tions of  the  mercantile  world  it  saves  time  and  is  far 
more  convenient  to  use  checks,  drafts,  and  other  symbols 
for  money  than  it  would  be  to  use  the  actual  cash.  In 
elementary  transactions,  like  the  purchase  of  a  necktie, 
it  is  better  to  use  the  cash,  to  think  and  deal  in  real 
money,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  distribution  of  five  and 
one-half  million  dollars  among  the  school  districts  of 
Pennsylvania,  it  is  better  to  draw  warrants  upon  the 
State  Treasurer,  to  use  checks  and  drafts,  and  to  think 
in  figures,  than  it  would  be  to  count  so  much  coin,  and 
send  the  appropriation  in  that  form  all  over  a  great 
commonwealth. 

The  parable  hardly  needs  an  interpretation.  Its 
lesson  points  in  two  directions.  On  the  one  Ita  inter- 
hand,  it  shows  in  the  true  light  every  species  pretation. 
of  rote  teaching,  of  parrot-like  repetition  of  definitions, 


44  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

statements,  and  lists  of  words  which  give  a  show  of 
knowledge  without  the  substance.  It  puts  the  seal  of 
condemnation  on  most  forms  of  pure  memory  work.  It 
sounds  the  note  of  warning  to  all  teachers  who  are  trying 
to  improve  the  memory  by  concert  recitations.  The  boy 
whose  class  was  taught  to  define  a  point  as  position  with- 
out length,  breadth,  or  thickness,  and  who,  when  asked  to 
recite  alone,  gave  the  definition,  "  A  point  has  a  physi- 
cian without  strength,  health,  or  sickness,"  is  but  one 
of  many  specimens  of  class-teaching  condemned  by  the 
parable.  It  says  in  unmistakable  terms  that  all  ele- 
mentary instruction  must  start  in  the  concrete,  taking  up 
the  objects  or  things  to  be  known,  and  resolutely  refusing 
to  begin  with  statements  and  definitions  which  to  the 
children  are  a  mere  jargon  of  words. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  parable  indicates  how  too  long- 
continued  use  of  the  concrete  may  arrest  development, 
Making  an(l  hinder  the  learner  from  reaching  the  stages 
blockheads.  of  advanced  thinking.  It  hints  that  the  too 
constant  use  of  blocks,  however  valuable  at  first,  ulti- 
mately begets  blockheads,  instead  of  intelligences  capable 
of  the  higher  life  of  thought  and  reflection.  A  rational 
system  of  pedagogy  involves  proper  attention  to  the 
materials  of  thought  and  proper  care  in  furnishing 
the  instruments  by  which  advanced  thinking  is  made 
easy  and  effective.  In  one  respect  the  parable  does  not 
set  forth  the  whole  truth.  It  makes  no  account  of  differ- 
ences in  thinking  due  to  heredity  and  mental  training. 
The  differences  in  native  ability  are,  however,  not  as 
great  as  is  generally  supposed  (unless  the  feeble-minded 
enter  into  the  comparison) ;  the  differences  due  to  correct 
training,  or  the  neglect  of  it,  are  far  more  striking.  The 
work  expected  of  the  pupil  should,  of  course,  tally  with 
his  capacity ;  otherwise  it  will  force  him  to  resort  to 
pernicious  helps,  beget  in  him  wrong  habits  of  study, 


THINKING   IN  THINGS  AND  IN  SYMBOLS.          45 

rob  him  of  the  sense  of  mastery  and  the  joy  of  intel- 
lectual achievement,  and  destroy  his  self-reliance,  his 
power  of  initiative,  and  his  ability  to  grapple  with  diffi- 
cult problems  and  perplexing  questions.  The  power  to 
think  grows  by  judicious  exercise.  Here  better  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  whole  domain  of  school  work  can 
we  distinguish  the  genuine  coin  from  its  counterfeit,  and 
discriminate  between  true  skill  and  quackery,  between 
the  artist  and  the  artisan.  It  is  at  this  point  that  most 
help  can  be  given  to  young  teachers  by  a  good  course  of 
lectures  on  learning  to  think  and  on  the  difficult  art  of 
stimulating  others  to  think. 


Ill 

THE  MATERIALS   OF   THOUGHT 


47 


A  vast  abundance  of  objects  must  lie  before  us  ere  we  can  think 
upon  them. 

GOETHE. 

The  young  have  a  strong  appetite  for  reality,  and  the  teacher 
who  does  not  make  use  of  that  appetite  is  not  wise. 

J.  S.  BLACKIE. 

The  child's  restless  observation,  instead  of  being  ignored  or 
checked,  should  be  diligently  ministered  to,  and  made  as  accurate 
as  possible. 

HERBERT  SPENCER. 

What  do  you  read,  my  lord  ? 
Words,  words,  words. 

HAMLET. 

You  have  an  exchequer  of  words,  and  I  think  no  other  treasure. 

Two  GENTLEMEN  OF  VERONA. 


48 


Ill 

THE  MATERIALS  OF  THOUGHT 

THE  hotel  man  was  right  in  his  criticism  of  teachers 
who  expect  their  pupils  to  make  an  intellectual  meal  on 
mere  words.  For  three  hundred  years  educational  re- 
formers have  been  hurling  their  epithets  against  this 
abuse.  Has  it  been  banished  from  the  schools  ?  By  no 
means.  It  crops  out  anew  with  every  generation  of 
teachers  and  in  every  grade  of  instruction  from  the  kin- 
dergarten to  the  university.  During  the  years  in  which 
a  child  acquires  several  languages  without  difficulty,  if 
it  hears  them  spoken,  the  mind  is  eager  for  words  and 
often  appropriates  them  regardless  of  their  meaning. 
The  child  learns  rhymes  and  phrases  for  the  sake  of  the 
jingle  that  is  in  them,  and  cares  very  little  for  clearly 
defined  ideas  and  thoughts.  So  strong  and  retentive  is 
the  memory  for  words  that  the  child  finds  it  easier  to 
learn  by  heart  entire  sentences  than  to  think  the  thoughts 
therein  expressed.  Like  a  willing  and  obedient  Word9 
slave,  the  verbal  memory  can  be  made  to  do  without 
the  work  of  the  other  mental  powers.  The 
merest  glimpse  at  a  picture  may  recall  all  the  sentences 
on  the  same  page,  so  that  the  pupil  can  repeat  them  with 
the  book  closed  or  the  back  turned  towards  the  reading 
chart.  The  recollection  of  what  the  ear  has  heard  may 
thus  relieve  the  eye  of  its  function  in  seeing  words,  de- 
grade the  child  to  the  level  of  a  parrot,  and  thereby 
greatly  hinder  progress  in  learning  to  read.  Very  fre- 
quently the  memory  is  required  to  perform  work  belong- 

4  49 


50  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

ing  to  the  reflective  powers,  because  the  learner  is  thereby 
saved  the  trouble  of  comprehending  the  lesson  and  ex- 
pressing its  substance  in  his  own  language.  Moreover, 
the  accurate  statement  of  a  truth  is  apt  to  be  accepted  as 
evidence  of  knowledge  and  correct  thinking.  The  average 
examination  tests  very  little  more  than  the  memory.  If 
the  answers  are  given  in  the  language  of  the  text-book  or 
the  teacher,  the  examiner  seldom  supplements  the  written 
work  by  an  oral  examination.  Thus  there  is  a  constant 
tendency  on  the  part  of  teachers  and  pupils  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  correct  forms  of  statement ;  and  the  pernicious 
custom  of  feeding  the  mind  on  mere  words  is  encouraged 
and  perpetuated.  Exposed  in  plain  terms,  this  abuse  of 
words  is  condemned  by  everybody ;  yet  it  is  as  easy  at 
this  point  to  slide  into  the  wrong  practice  as  it  is  to  fall 
into  the  sins  forbidden  by  the  decalogue.  Like  Proteus, 
this  abuse  assumes  diverse  and  unexpected  forms ;  in- 
stance after  instance  is  needed  to  put  young  teachers  on 
their  guard  and  to  expose  its  pernicious  effect  upon 
methods  of  instruction  and  habits  of  study.  To  cry 
"  words,  words,  nothing  but  words,"  will  not  suffice  to 
correct  the  evil,  for  words  must  be  used  in  the  best  kind 
of  instruction.  Line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept, 
example  after  example  is  needed  to  expose  the  folly  of 
learning  words  without  corresponding  ideas,  of  teaching 
symbols  apart  from  the  things  for  which  they  stand.  No 
apology  is  needed  for  citing  laughable  and  flagrant  in- 
stances in  point ;  ridicule  sometimes  avails  where  good 
counsel  fails. 

A  superintendent   who    advocates   spelling-bees   and 

magnifies  correct  orthography  out  of  all  proportion  to  its 

real  value  startled  a  class  in  the  high  school 

Spelling. 

by  asking  for  the  spelling  of  a  word  of  five 
syllables.  Not  receiving  an  immediate  answer,  he  re- 
ferred to  the  Greek.  This  made  the  spelling  easy  for  at 


THE  MATERIALS  OF  THOUGHT.  51 

least  one  pupil.  A  year  later  he  accosted  this  pupil, 
saying,  "  You  are  the  only  person  that  ever  spelled  psy- 
chopannychism  for  me."  "What  does  it  mean!"  was 
the  question  flashed  back  at  him  in  return  for  his  com- 
pliment. He  could  not  tell,  because  he  did  not  know. 
For  years  he  had  worried  teachers  and  pupils  with  the 
spelling  of  a  word  whose  meaning  he  had  failed  to  fix 
accurately  in  his  own  mind.*  What  more  effective 
method  could  be  devised  for  destroying  correct  habits 
of  thinking? 

There  is  a  time  in  the  life  of  the  child  when  it  is  hun- 
gry for  new  words.  The  habit  of  seeing  words  accurately 
and  learning  their  spelling  at  first  sight  is  then  easily  ac- 
quired, provided  there  is  no  defect  in  the  pupil's  eyes. 
In  cases  of  defective  eyesight  the  first  step  towards  the 
solution  of  the  spelling  problem,  as  well  as  the  first  con- 
dition in  teaching  the  pupil  to  think  accurately,  is  to 
send  him  to  a  skilled  oculist  (not  to  a  so-called  graduate 
optician  or  doctor  of  refraction,  who  must  make  his  living 
out  of  the  specatcles  he  sells,  and  whose  limited  training 
does  not  enable  him  to  make  a  correct  diagnosis  in  criti- 
cal cases).  Correct  vision  will  assist  the  pupil  not  merely 
in  learning  the  exact  form  of  the  words  which 

Eyesight. 

he  uses  in  writing,  but  also  in  forming  correct 
ideas  of  the  things  with  which  the  mind  deals  in  the 
thought-processes.  Although  great  stress  should  be  laid 
upon  the  orthography  of  such  words  in  common  use  as 
are  frequently  misspelled, — daily  drill  upon  lists  of  these 
should  not  be  omitted  at  school  while  the  child's  word- 
hunger  lasts, — yet  it  is  vastly  more  important  to  acquire 
an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  ideas,  concepts,  and  rela- 
tions for  which  the  words  stand.  To  spend  time  upon 

*  Psychopannychism  denotes  the  doctrine  that  the  soul  falls 
asleep  at  death,  not  to  awaken  until  the  resurrection. 


52  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

the  spelling  of  words  which  only  the  specialist  uses,  and 
which  are  easily  learned  in  connection  with  the  specialty 
by  a  student  possessing  correct  mental  habits,  is  a  form 
of  waste  that  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned.  It  is  far 
better  to  spend  time  in  building  concepts  of  things  met 
with  in  real  life. 

The  meaning  of  very  many  words  is,  of  course,  learned 
from  the  connection  in  which  they  occur.  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  true  of  sesquipedalian  words  like  the  one 
mentioned  above,  nor  of  the  technical  terms  by  which 
science  designates  the  things  that  have  been  accurately 
defined  or  quantified. 

Technical  terms  are  used  to  denote  the  ideas  which  lie 
at  the  basis  of  science.  These  fundamental  ideas  are 
runda-  appropriately  called  basal  concepts.  Since 
mental  basal  concepts  cannot  be  transferred  from  the 
ideas.  teacher's  mind  to  the  pupils'  minds  by  merely 
teaching  the  corresponding  technical  terms,  they  must 
be  developed  by  appropriate  lessons.  If  this  be  neg- 
lected, there  may  be  juggling  with  words  and  a  show 
of  knowledge ;  but  close,  accurate  thinking  is  impos- 
sible. This  seems  to  be  so  self-evident  that  one  would 
hardly  expect  to  meet  violations  of  such  a  simple  rule 
in  the  art  of  teaching.  And  yet  it  is  related  of  the 
professor  of  physics  in  one  of  our  largest  universities 
that  he  began  his  course  of  lectures  in  this  wise  : .  "  A 
rearrangement  of  the  courses  of  study  deprived  you  of 
the  usual  instruction  in  elementary  physics.  That  is 
your  misfortune,  and  not  my  fault."  Thereupon,  he 
began  his  lectures  on  advanced  physics  as  if  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  class  to  think  the  concepts  at  the  foundation 
of  his  science  could  be  ignored  without  detriment  to  the 
progress  of  the  student,  as  if  confused  minds  and  un- 
satisfactory thinking  were  not  the  inevitable  outcome  of 
juggling  with  technical  terms  apart  from  the  concepts 


THE  MATERIALS  OF  THOUGHT.  53 

which  they  denote.  A  master  in  the  art  of  teaching 
would  have  started  on  the  plane  occupied  by  the  students. 
By  development  lessons  he  would  have  lifted  them  to  the 
plane  of  thought  on  which  he  intended  to  move.  He 
would  have  considered  their  mental  progress  of  more 
consequence  than  the  course  of  lectures  which  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  delivering.  The  student,  and  not  the  study, 
should  have  held  the  chief  place  in  his  professional 
horizon. 

In  another  State  university  the  professor  of  physics 
applied  to  an  influential  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
for  an  appropriation  for  apparatus.  "Teach  Abuse  of 
what  is  in  the  text-book  ;  then  you  will  not  text-books. 
need  apparatus,"  was  the  reply.  It  seems  almost  in- 
credible that  a  trustee  of  a  modern  university  should  fail 
to  see  the  difference  between  an  experiment  actually 
performed  and  a  description  of  the  experiment  in  a  text- 
book. More  incredible  still  does  it  seem  when  we  hear 
of  professors  who  see  no  difference  between  an  experiment 
made  in  the  presence  of  a  student  and  an  experiment 
made  by  the  student  himself. 

Pictures  of  apparatus  and  descriptions  of  experiments 
should,  of  course,  not  be  despised  or  neglected.  They 
are  helpful  in  forming  concepts  of  that  which  Apparatus 
cannot  be  brought  before  a  class.  When  made  and  expen- 
by  the  learner  himself,  as  a  result  of  his  own  ments- 
work,  they  serve  to  clarify  his  thinking,  and  furnish  a 
sure  test  of  the  pupil's  progress  and  of  the  teacher's 
skill  as  a  guide  and  instructor.  A  drawing,  or  even  a 
statement  in  the  pupil's  own  words,  is  often  an  astonish- 
ing revelation  of  the  crude  notions  which  pictures  give. 
The  city  lad  who  said  that  a  cow  was  no  bigger  than  a 
finger-nail  because  he  had  often  measured  its  size  in  the 
First  Reader  is  a  typical  example.  The  ability  to  interpret 
pictures  and  descriptions  comes  from  actual  knowledge 


54  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

of  things  similar  to  what  is  depicted  or  described.  The 
noted  teacher,  Agassiz,  made  a  difference  in  his  directions 
to  beginners  and  advanced  students.  To  the 
former  he  would  give  specimens,  with  direc- 
tions to  study  them  without  referring  to  a  book.  Having 
taught  them  how  to  use  their  eyes,  he  would  gradually 
lead  them  to  the  method  of  interpreting  and  verifying 
the  statements  of  an  author.  And  when  the  advanced 
student  was  set  to  work  at  original  investigations,  he 
was  told  to  study  certain  books,  as  it  would  save  much 
valuable  time.  One  of  his  pupils  writes,  ' '  I  shall  never 
forget  a  forceful  lesson  given  me  by  the  great  Agassiz, 
when  I  studied  with  him  in  the  Museum  of  Cambridge. 
I  worked  near  a  young  man  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who 
has  since  achieved  distinction  as  a  teacher  of  biology.  I 
was  comparatively  a  beginner,  however,  while  he  was 
well  advanced  in  his  studies.  On  a  certain  day  Agassiz 
came  sauntering  by,  and  stopped  long  enough  to  tell  me 
not  to  use  the  library  so  much,  but  to  confine  myself  to 
observations  of  the  specimens  on  hand  and  the  writing 
of  my  observations  and  comments.  Passing  on  a  little 
farther,  he  spoke  to  my  friend  and  said,  '  Albert,  when 
you  go  home,  this  summer,  to  Cleveland,  I  wish  you 
would  make  a  special  study  of  a  certain  kind  of  fish 
found  in  the  harbor  there.  It  is  not  found  plentifully 
anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Take  a  row-boat  and  go 
three  hundred  yards  northeast  of  the  point  of  the  break- 
water, and  you  will  find  them  in  abundance.  Before 
going  home,  get  the  only  three  books  ever  written  on 
this  fish  from,  the  library  here  and  read  them.  It  will 
save  your  time  to  read  them  before  beginning  to  study 
the  fish  itself.' ?;  *  Agassiz  was  as  anxious  to  teach 

*  For  this  incident  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Superintendent  L. 
H.  Jones,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


THE  MATERIALS   OF  THOUGHT.  55 

the  right  use  of  books  as  is  the  professor  of  literature ; 
but  he  adapted  his  directions  to  the  degree  of  advance- 
ment which  his  students  had  attained,  and  did  not 
neglect  the  formation  of  the  basal  concepts  and  the 
habits  of  study  needful  in  the  sciences  he  taught. 

How  little  the  exhortations  of  our  educational  reform- 
ers have  been  taken  to  heart  by  some  teachers  is  evident 
from  the  recent  experiences  of  a  normal  school 
principal,  who  had  great  difficulty  in  finding  a 
satisfactory  teacher  of  botany.  The  students  could  in- 
variably answer  the  questions  of  the  State  Board  of  Ex- 
aminers by  filling  pages  of  manuscript  with  technical 
terms.  In  the  field  they  could  not  distinguish  one  plant 
from  another.  In  despair,  the  principal  said  to  his 
teacher  of  psychology,  "  Why  can  we  not  apply  common 
sense  to  the  teaching  of  botany?  Can  we  not  plant 
seeds,  watch  their  growth,  and  study  the  growing  speci- 
mens instead  of  the  pictures  in  a  text-book!"  "If  you 
will  give  me  the  class  in  botany,  I  will  try  it,"  was  the 
reply.  Before  the  next  class  took  up  botany,  every 
chalk-box  was  emptied  and  every  flower-pot  utilized  in 
the  planting  of  seeds.  In  no  long  time  there  appeared 
on  the  fences  of  neighboring  farms  sign-boards  with  the 
inscription,  "Trespassing  on  these  fields  is  forbidden, 
under  penalty  of  the  law."  The  members  of  the  class 
were  traversing  the  country,  studying  the  real  flowers, 
the  growing  plants,  instead  of  the  technical  terms  of  a 
text-book.  At  the  next  final  examination,  the  herbarium 
which  each  one  had  prepared,  together  with  the  accom- 
panying analysis  and  drawings  of  parts  which  could  not 
be  described,  including  colorings  in  imitation  of  the 
actual  colors  of  the  flowers,  gave  evidence  of  real  knowl- 
edge, and  served  to  satisfy  the  examiners,  although  the 
array  of  technical  terms  was  far  less  formidable. 

If  violations  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  teaching  occur 


56  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

in  our  higher  institutions  of  learning,  what  may  we  not 
expect  in  the  lower  schools  where  the  teaching  is  intrusted 
to  young  people  of  limited  education  ?  Nevertheless,  it  is 
a  notorious  fact  that  the  worst  forms  of  teaching  are  found 
in  our  higher  institutions  of  learning,  where  many  of  the 
professors  seem  to  know  as  little  of  the  science  of  educa- 
tion as  the  motorman  knows  of  the  science  of  electricity  ; 
otherwise  they  would  make  impossible  the  use  of  ' '  ponies, 
coaches,  and  keys, ' '  by  means  of  which  the  student  taxes 
the  memory  rather  than  the  understanding,  and  ulti- 
mately loses  all  power  of  independent  thought  and  inves- 
tigation. Such  helps  arrest  mental  development,  destroy 
the  power  of  original  thinking,  and  do  more  harm  than 
the  practice  of  feeding  the  mind  with  mere  verbal  state- 
ments which  in  course  of  time  may  acquire  content  and 
meaning.  The  study  of  the  sciences  which  classify  min- 
erals, plants,  insects,  birds,  fishes,  and  other  animals 
may  degenerate  into  a  mere  study  of  words,  even  when 
the  student  acquires  some  familiarity  with  the  specimens 
to  be  classified.  The  scientific  name  is  the  one  thing 
about  a  flower  with  which  the  Creator  has  had  nothing 
to  do,  and  if  the  recognition  of  the  scientific  name  is  the 
chief  or  sole  aim  of  the  student  of  botany,  it  is  a  genuine 
case  of  feeding  the  mind  on  words. 

By  those  who  are  fond  of  scientific  pursuits  the  dead 
languages  are  sometimes  despised  as  though  the  study  of 
them  were  learned  playing  with  mere  words.  Among 
people  who  begin  their  education  somewhat  late  in  life 
there  is  a  strong  temptation  to  estimate  linguistic  studies 
very  far  below  their  true  value  as  a  means  for  disciplining 
the  reasoning  faculty.  When  pursued  in  the  right  way, 
the  study  of  the  classical  languages  furnishes  as  much 
good  material  for  thought  as  the  natural  sciences.  Hux- 
ley may  charm  an  audience  by  a  lecture  on  a  piece  of 
chalk  j  the  philologist  can  excite  equal  interest  by  a 


THE  MATERIALS   OF  THOUGHT.  57 

lecture  on  the  word,  chalk.  Words  grow  and  undergo 
changes  according  to  well- denned  laws  which  furnish  as 
much  food  for  thought  as  the  laws  governing  word3ag 
the  union  of  atoms  or  the  motions  of  the  material  for 
heavenly  bodies.  The  words  of  a  lexicon  con-  thousht- 
tain  as  much  of  precious  interest  in  the  sight  of  man  as 
the  manufactured  gases  or  the  plucked  leaves  and  dis- 
sected flowers  of  the  laboratory.  Greek  and  Latin  roots 
have  more  vitality  in  them  than  the  collections  of  stones, 
stuffed  birds,  and  transfixed  bugs  in  the  museum.  The 
endings  of  nouns,  adjectives,  pronouns,  and  verbs  furnish 
ample  opportunity  for  observation,  comparison,  and  re- 
flection ;  their  functions  in  the  syntax  of  the  sentence 
furnish  splendid  exercises  in  formal  and  qualitative 
thinking.  If,  however,  the  time  of  the  pupil  is  entirely 
consumed  in  mastering  the  hundreds  of  exceptions  to  the 
rules  of  gender  and  case,  of  declensions  and  conjugations, 
of  syntax  and  prosody,  it  is  another  sad  instance  of  feed- 
ing the  mind  on  mere  words.  The  pupil  who  begins  the 
study  of  any  foreign  language  before  he  has  reached  his 
teens  should  acquire  the  power  to  read  the  language  at 
sight ;  otherwise  there  has  been  something  faulty  in  the 
methods  of  teaching  or  of  study,  or  in  both.  A  man  is 
as  many  times  a  man  as  he  knows  languages ;  and  the 
comparison  of  the  idioms  of  two  or  more  languages  fur- 
nishes most  excellent  material  for  careful  and  accurate 
thinking.  In  translating  an  author  like  Plato  the  student 
must  think  the  thoughts  of  a  master  mind,  weigh  words 
so  as  to  detect  the  finer  shades  of  meaning,  and  arrange 
them  in  sentences  that  shall  adequately  express  the  mean- 
ing of  the  original.  The  value  of  pure  mathe-  Geometry 
matics,  especially  the  Euclidian  geometry,  as  a  as,  thought- 
means  for  the  cultivation  of  thinking,  lies  in 
the  limited  number  of  fundamental  concepts  which  must 
be  clearly  fixed  and  in  the  nature  of  the  reasoning 


58  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

by  which  the  truth  of  the  theorems  is  established.  The 
axioms  are  few  in  number  and  easily  grasped ;  the 
quantities  to  be  defined  can,  without  difficulty,  be  set  in 
a  clear  light  before  the  understanding  ;  the  chain  of  proof 
compels  the  mind  to  join  ideas  by  their  logical  nexus,  and 
if  the  learner  persists  in  memorizing  the  demonstration, 
he  is  at  once  detected.  And  yet  when,  as  sometimes 
happens,  he  goes  over  several  books  of  geometry  without 
clearly  perceiving  the  difference  between  an  angle  and 
a  triangle,  it  must  be  a  genuine  specimen  of  acquiring 
words  without  the  corresponding  ideas. 

The  words  of  S.  S.  Greene  deserve  the  attention  of 
every  teacher  anxious  to  prevent  the  formation  of  vicious 
s.  s.  Greene's  habits  of  thought  by  the  pupils  in  our  schools 

views.  an(j  colleges.  Years  ago  he  wrote  as  follows  : 
11  While  an  external  object  may  be  viewed  by  thousands 
in  common,  the  idea  or  image  of  it  addresses  itself 
only  to  the  individual  consciousness.  My  idea  or  image 
is  mine  alone, — the  reward  of  careless  observation,  if 
imperfect ;  of  attentive,  careful,  and  varied  observation, 
if  correct.  Between  mine  and  yours  a  great  gulf  is 
fixed.  No  man  can  pass  from  mine  to  yours,  or  from 
yours  to  mine.  Neither,  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word, 
can  mine  be  conveyed  to  you.  Words  do  not  convey 
thoughts ;  they  are  not  vehicles  of  thought  in  any  true 
sense  of  that  term.  A  word  is  simply  a  common  symbol 
which  each  associates  with  his  own  idea  or  image. 
Neither  can  I  compare  mine  with  yours,  except  through 
the  mediation  of  external  objects.  And,  then,  how  do  I 
know  that  they  are  alike  ;  that  a  measure  called  a  foot, 
for  instance,  seems  as  long  to  you  as  to  me  ?  My  idea  of 
a  new  object,  which  you  and  I  observe  together,  may  be 
very  imperfect.  By  it  I  attribute  to  the  object  what 
does  not  belong  to  it,  take  from  it  what  does,  distort  its 
form,  and  otherwise  pervert  it.  Suppose,  now,  at  the 


THE  MATERIALS   OF  THOUGHT.  59 

time  of  observation  we  agree  upon  a  word  as  a  sign  or 
symbol  of  the  object  or  the  idea  of  it.  The  object  is 
withdrawn ;  the  idea  only  remains,  — imperfect  in  my 
case,  complete  and  vivid  in  yours.  The  sign  is  em- 
ployed. Does  it  bring  back  the  original  object?  By 
no  means.  Does  it  convey  my  idea  to  your  mind? 
Nothing  of  the  kind ;  you  would  be  disgusted  with  the 
shapeless  image.  Does  it  convey  yours  to  me !  No ;  I 
should  be  delighted  at  the  sight.  What  does  it  effect  ? 
It  becomes  the  occasion  for  each  to  call  up  his  own 
image.  Does  each  now  contemplate  the  same  thing! 
What  multitudes  of  dissimilar  images  instantly  spring 
up  at  the  announcement  of  the  same  symbol ! — dissimilar 
not  because  of  anything  in  the  one  source  whence  they 
are  derived,  but  because  of  either  an  inattentive  and 
imperfect  observation  of  that  source,  or  some  constitu- 
tional or  habitual  defect  in  the  use  of  the  perceptive 
faculty." 

Dr.  J.  P.  Gordy,  to  whom  credit  is  due  for  the  pre- 
ceding quotation,  further  says,  "Words  are  like  paper 
money  ;  their  value  depends  on  what  they  j.  p.  Gordy's 
stand  for.  As  you  would  be  none  the  richer  statement, 
for  possessing  Confederate  money  to  the  amount  of  a 
million  dollars,  so  your  pupils  would  be  none  the  wiser 
for  being  able  to  repeat  book  after  book  by  heart,  un- 
less the  words  were  the  signs  of  ideas  in  their  minds. 
Words  without  ideas  are  an  irredeemable  paper  cur- 
rency. It  is  the  practical  recognition  of  this  truth  that 
has  revolutionized  the  best  schools  in  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century.  ...  In  what  did  the  reform  inaugurated  by 
Festal ozzi  consist?  In  the  substitution  of  the  pestaiozzi'i 
intelligent  for  the  blind  use  of  words.  He  re-  reform, 
versed  the  educational  engine.  Before  his  time  teachers 
expected  their  pupils  to  go  from  words  to  ideas ;  he 
taught  them  to  go  from  ideas  to  words.  He  brought 


60  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

out  the  fact  upon  which  I  have  been  insisting, — that 
words  are  utterly  powerless  to  create  ideas ;  that  all 
they  can  do  is  to  help  the  pupil  to  recall  and  recombine 
ideas  already  formed.  With  Pestalozzi,  therefore,  and 
with  those  who  have  been  imbued  with  his  theories,  the 
important  matter  is  the  forming  of  clear  and  definite 
ideas."  * 

It  was  a  remark  of  Goethe  that  genius  begins  in  the 
senses.  With  equal  truth  we  may  say  that  thinking 
begins  in  the  senses.  Like  unto  the  genius,  the  thought- 
ful man  perceives  and  interprets  what  has  escaped  the 
sight  and  notice  of  other  people.  To  sight  he  adds  in- 
insight.  sight.  That  which  he  sees  is  subsumed  under 
the  proper  class  or  category,  and  is  viewed  from  different 
sides  until  its  significance  is  discovered,  and  a  place  is 
assigned  to  it  in  the  intellectual  horizon  and  in  the 
external  world.  Every  fact  thus  seen  in  its  relation  to 
other  facts  serves  as  a  basis  for  further  observation, 
reflection,  and  comparison.  Not  merely  the  genius,  but 
every  other  person  whose  thinking  is  above  the  average 
in  vigor  and  accuracy,  has  the  power  to  perceive  things 
which  escape  the  eyes  and  ears  of  other  people.  Through 
habits  of  careful  and  correct  observation  he  fills  his  mind 
with  images,  ideas,  concepts  of  the  objects  of  thought 
and  of  the  relations  which  exist  between  these  objects, 
and  thereby  acquires  the  materials  for  the  comparisons 
which  constitute  the  essence  of  good  thinking.  If  the 
strength  of  a  student  is  exhausted  in  gathering  and 
storing  the  materials  for  thought,  his  mind  becomes  a 
wilderness  of  facts ;  if  he  reasons  without  the  facts,  his 
conclusions  are  more  unreal  than  the  figments  of  the 
imagination. 
Truth  is  the  best  thought-material  for  the  mind  to  act 

*  "  Lessons  in  Psychology,"  pages  260-267. 


THE  MATERIALS  OF  THOUGHT.  61 

upon.  The  possession  of  truth  is  the  aim  and  the  goal 
of  all  correct  thinking.  Knowledge  of  the  truth  im- 
plies the  conformity  of  thinking  with  being. 

Truth  the 

The  world  within  should  be  made  to  correspond       proper 
with  the  world  outside  of  us.  thought- 

Fortunately,  the  self-activity  of  children  is 
towards  the  objective  world  of  things  which  they  can  see, 
hear,  smell,  taste,  and  handle.  From  inner  impulse  their 
thinking  is  directed  towards  the  cognition  of  objects.  One 
of  the  functions  of  nature  study  is  to  beget  habits  of  careful 
and  accurate  observation.  This  is  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  laboratory  method  as  distinguished  from  the  library 
method.  A  training  in  both  is  essential  to  a  The  labora_ 
complete  education.  The  library  stores  the  toryandthe 
treasures  of  knowledge  which  the  human  race 
has  gathered  and  makes  them  accessible  to  the  learner. 
The  laboratory  shows  him  by  what  methods  truth  is  dis- 
covered and  tested  and  verified.  The  German  professor 
who  declined  to  visit  a  menagerie,  asserting  that  he 
could  evolve  the  idea  of  the  elephant  from  his  inner  con- 
sciousness, may  have  spent  much  time  in  reading  books 
and  in  speculation ;  but  he  certainly  never  worked  in  a 
laboratory  ;  nor  had  he  taken  to  heart  the  lessons  which 
he  might  have  learned  from  the  sages  of  antiquity.  Aris- 
totle knew  the  importance  of  asking  nature  for 
facts,  and  he  induced  his  royal  pupil,  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  to  employ  two  thousand  persons  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  for  the  purpose  of  gathering 
information  concerning  beasts,  birds,  and  reptiles, 
whereby  he  was  enabled  to  write  fifty  volumes  upon 
animated  nature.  After  teachers  had  forgotten  his 
methods  they  still  turned  to  his  books  for  the  treasures 
which  he  had  gathered.  In  the  ages  in  which  men  hardly 
dared  to  ask  nature  for  her  secrets,  fearing  that  they  might 
be  accused  of  witchcraft,  they  turned  to  Aristotle  as  if 


62  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

he  were  an  infallible  guide — so  much  so  that  when  Gali- 
leo announced  the  discovery  of  sun-spots  a  monk  de- 
clared that  he  had  read  Aristotle  through  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  inasmuch  as  Aristotle  said  nothing  about 
spots  on  the  sun,  therefore  there  are  none.  This  book- 
method  of  studying  science  has  not  entirely  disappeared 
from  the  seats  of  learning.  Books  like  Tyndall's  "  "Water 
and  the  Forms  of  Water,"  Faraday's  "Chemistry  of  a 
Candle,"  and  Newcomb's  " Popular  Astronomy"  may, 
indeed,  be  read  or  studied  as  literature,  and  thus  prove 
a  means  of  culture ;  but  to  accept  the  facts  and  state- 
ments of  a  text-book  without  verification  is  the  lazy 
man's  method  of  studying  science ;  and  as  a  method  it 
fails  to  lay  the  foundation  upon  which  a  solid  super- 
structure can  be  built.  The  correct  method  starts  with 
observation  of  the  things  to  be  known,  develops  the 
basal  concepts  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  science 
under  consideration,  ends  by  teaching  the  pupil  how  to 
make  independent  investigations,  how  to  utilize  the 
treasures  which  have  been  preserved  in  our  libraries, 
thereby  furnishing  an  adequate  supply  of  proper  mate- 
rials for  thought. 

The  habits  of  men  who  have  surprised  the  world  by 
their  intellectual  and  professional  achievements  are  very 
Productive  suggestive.  Spurgeon  kept  his  mind  filled  by 

minds.  constant  reading.  Goethe  was  fond  of  travel 
and  utilized  what  he  learned  from  others.  Emerson  vis- 
ited the  markets  regularly,  conversed  with  the  men  and 
women  from  whom  he  bought,  and  sought  to  learn  their 
views  on  current  events.  Study  the  greatest  thinkers  the 
world  has  known,  and  you  will  find  their  memories  to 
have  been  a  storehouse  of  thought-materials  which  they 
analyzed,  sifted,  compared,  and  formulated  into  systems 
that  win  the  admiration  of  all  who  love  to  think. 


IV 


BASAL   CONCEPTS   AS   THOUGHT- 
MATERIAL 


63 


Thought  proper,  as  distinguished  from  other  facts  of  conscious- 
ness, may  be  adequately  described  as  the  act  of  knowing  or  judging 
of  things  by  means  of  concepts. 

MANSEL. 

We  cannot  learn  all  words  through  other  words.  There  is  a 
large  and  rapidly  increasing  part  of  all  modern  vocabularies  which 
can  be  comprehended  only  by  the  observation  of  nature,  scientific 
experiment, — in  short,  by  the  study  of  things. 

MAKSII, 

The  question  we  ask  of  each  thing  (and  of  the  whole  experience/ 
is,  What  are  you  ?  You  have  qualities  which  I  find  everywhere 
else  ;  your  color  I  find  in  other  things  ;  your  texture  and  hardness 
and  odor  and  form  I  find  in  other  things  ;  but  they  are  combined 
in  you  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  you  a  thing  by  yourself,  and  not 
anything  else.  And  I  want  to  know  what  you  truly  are, — in 
short,  what  is  your  essence,  which  is  also  your  idea,  and  the  pur- 
pose or  Te'Aos  of  your  existence. 

LAURIE. 


64 


IV 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS   THOUGHT- 
MATERIAL 

THE  head  may  be  likened  unto  a  walled  city,  with  com- 
paratively few  building  materials  on  the  inside,  and  with 
a  limited  number  of  gate- ways  through  which  all  other 
materials  for  building  purposes  must  pass.  The  walls 
are  not  made  of  brick  or  stone,  but  of  bone ;  the  gate- 
ways are  the  different  senses  through  which  knowledge 
enters  the  mind.  The  building  materials  on  the  inside 
are  intuitive  ideas  which  take  shape  in  conjunction 
with  the  entrance  of  materials  from  without.  The  struc- 
tures which  are  built  up  out  of  the  ideas  within  and  the 
sense- impressions  from  without  are  individual  Building 
and  general  concepts.  Take  an  orange.  Its  concepts, 
shape,  color,  parts,  are  known  through  the  eye.  Its 
flavor,  as  sweet  or  sour,  is  ascertained  through  taste ; 
its  odor  through  smell ;  its  temperature,  shape,  and 
some  other  qualities  through  touch.  These  various 
sense- impressions,  giving  the  mind  a  knowledge  of  es- 
sential and  accidental  qualities  and  attributes,  are  com- 
bined in  the  idea  of  a  particular  orange.  If  the  object 
were  a  bell,  its  sound,  parts,  uses,  and  qualities  would 
make  impressions  through  different  gate- ways  of  knowl- 
edge ;  the  builder  inside  would  combine  them  into  the 
more  or  less  complete  idea  of  the  object  presented  to  the 
senses.  From  each  sense-impression  the  mind  may  get  a 
percept ;  the  synthesis  of  these  percepts  produces  the 
individual  concept  or  notion. 

5  65 


66  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

It  is  helpful  at  this  point  clearly  to  distinguish  between 
essential  and  accidental  attributes.  The  orange  may 
have  been  kept  in  the  open  air  when  the  temperature  is 
low.  To  the  hand  it  feels  cold,  and  this  quality  enters 
into  the  idea  of  the  first  orange  which  the  child  has. 
As  other  oranges  which  have  been  in  a  warmer  atmos- 
phere are  brought  to  the  child,  the  attribute  cold  is  seen 
to  be  accidental, — that  is,  it  is  not  a  necessary  quality  of 
oranges  in  general.  On  the  other  hand,  the  qualities 
which  are  found  in  every  orange — many  of  them  hard  to 
describe  in  words — become  fixed  in  the  mind  as  essential 
attributes  of  the  orange.  In  course  of  time  many  objects 
of  the  same  kind  are  presented  to  the  senses,  cognized 
by  comparison  so  as  to  retain  the  essential  attributes  and 
to  omit  the  accidentals.  By  this  process  the  general 
notion  or  concept  is  formed. 

It  is  self-evident  that  the  mind's  comparisons  and  con- 
clusions are  unreliable  in  so  far  as  the  gate- ways  of  knowl- 
Gate-wa  s   e(%e  are  defective.     Few  persons  have  perfect 
of  knowi-    ears  ;  many  can  never  become  expert  tuners  of 
6(1861       pianos  or  reliable  critics  of  musical  perform- 
ances.   The  man  who  is  color-blind  is  not  accepted  in 
the  railway  service  or  as  an  officer  in  the  navy.     The 
man  who  is  totally  blind  is  never  selected  as  a  guide  in 
daylight.     On  the  other  hand,  the  blind  girl  spoken  of 
by  Bulwer  could  find  her  way  better  in  the  darkness  of 
the  last  days  of  Pompeii  than  other  people,  because  she 
was  accustomed  to  rely  upon  the  data  furnished  by  the 
other  senses  in  making  her  way  through  the  city,  and 
had  improved  these  as  gate-ways  of  knowledge  beyond 
the  needs  of  those  gifted  with  sight. 

In  building  concepts  of  objects  in  nature  it  would  be 
a  great  mistake  to  begin  with  the  word  instead  of  the 
thing.  Just  as  little  as  a  blind  man  can  conceive  the 
qualities  color,  light,  darkness,  through  mere  words,  so 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS   THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         Q'J 

little  can  children  conceive  classes  of  objects  which  have 
never  addressed  the  senses.  Hence  great  stress  has  been 
laid  by  educational  reformers  upon  the  cultivation  of 
habits  of  observation,  upon  the  supreme  necessity  of 
teaching  by  the  use  of  objects,  or  so-called  object-lessons. 
First,  things,  then  words,  or  signs  for  things, 
was  at  one  time  a  favorite  maxim  in  treatises  things  to 
on  teaching.  Consistent  application  of  the  sy™**'18- 
maxim  would  have  banished  the  dictionary  from  the 
school-room,  or  at  least  its  use  as  a  means  for  ascertain- 
ing the  meaning  of  words.  In  consulting  the  dictionary 
for  the  meaning  of  a  word,  we  pass  not  from 
the  thing  to  its  sign,  but  in  the  opposite  direc-  to  thing  or 
tion, — that  is,  from  the  sign  to  the  thing  signi-  idea- 
fied,  from  the  symbol  to  the  idea  for  which  the  symbol 
stands.  The  main  essential  in  good  instruction  is  that 
the  words  be  made  significant.  In  primary  instruction 
this  is  best  accomplished  by  passing  from  the  idea  to  the 
word ;  but  in  advanced  instruction  it  is  of  less  impor- 
tance whether  we  pass  from  the  word  to  the  idea  or  from 
the  idea  to  the  word.  The  meaning  of  very  many  words 
is  acquired  from  the  connection  in  which  they  are  used. 
For  the  meaning  of  the  larger  number  of  words  in  our 
vocabulary  we  never  consult  a  dictionary.  The  finer 
shades  of  meaning  we  get  not  from  definitions,  but  from 
quotations  taken  from  standard  authors.  This  fact 
should  never  tempt  the  teacher  to  trust  to  words,  defini- 
tions, and  descriptions  in  the  formation  of  basal  con- 
cepts. He  should  seek  to  give  unto  himself  a  clear  and 
full  account  of  the  things  or  ideas  which  cannot  spring 
from  mere  words,  however  skilfully  arranged  in  sen- 
tences. The  music-teacher  who  complained  of  the  public 
schools  because  a  seven-year-old  child  did  not  grasp  his 
meaning  when  he  spoke  of  half-notes,  quarter-notes, 
eighth-notes,  sixteenth-notes,  should  have  known  that 


68  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

many  children  of  that  age  have  never  been  taught  frac- 
tions, and  that  the  idea  of  a  fraction  is  obtained  not 
The  sense  fr°m  sounds  (who  distinguishes  between  half  a 
to  be  ad-  noise  and  a  whole  noise?),  but  from  objects 
'ed'  which  address  the  eye.  Instead  of  complaining 
about  the  school  which  the  pupil  attended,  a  teacher 
acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  his  art  would  have 
started  with  the  comparison  of  things  visible  ;  and  after 
having  developed  the  idea  of  halves,  quarters,  eighths,  six- 
teenths, by  the  division  of  visible  objects  into  equal  parts, 
he  would  have  applied  the  idea  to  musical  sounds. 

In  seeking  to  build  in  the  mind  of  the  learner  the  con- 
cepts which  lie  at  the  basis  of  a  new  branch  of  study,  it 
is  a  legitimate  question  to  ask  by  which  of  the  gate-ways 
of  knowledge  the  materials  or  elements  for  the 
gate-ways    new  idea  can  best  be  made  to  enter  the  mind.    At 
for  differ-    the  basis  of  arithmetic  lies  the  idea  of  number, 
— an  idea  that  is  evoked  by  the  question  of 
how  many  applied  to  a  collection  of  two  or  more  units. 
Taste  and  smell  must  be  ruled  out  from  the  list  of 
senses  which  can  be  utilized  to  advantage.     Three  taps 
on  the  desk  are  as  easily  recognized  as  three  marks  or 
strokes  on  the  black-board.     The  sense  of  touch  is  help- 
ful in  passing  from  concrete  to  abstract  num- 
bers.    To  think  a  number  when  the  correspond- 
ing collection  of  objects  is  not  visible,  but  is  suggested  by 
tactile  impressions,   helps  to  emancipate  the  thinking 
process  from  the  domination  of  the  eye  ;  in  other  words, 
it  helps  to  sunder  the  thinking  of  number  from  a  specific 
sense,  and  thus  aids  in  the  evolution  of  the  idea  of 
number  apart  from  concrete  objects. 
As  already  indicated,  there  are  some  basal  concepts, 
like  that  of  a  fraction,  in  the  development  of 

Fractions.         v  -u        i  ^        J.-T      j   1       j 

which  only  one  sense  can  be  utilized  to  advan- 
tage.   Whilst  imparting  the  idea  of  a  whole  number,  the 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         69 

appeal  may  be  to  the  eye,  the  ear,  and  the  sense  of  touch  ; 
the  instruction  designed  to  impart  the  idea  of  fractions 
to  the  normal  child  is  limited  to  visible  objects.  In  the 
instruction  of  the  blind  the  other  senses  are  addressed 
from  necessity.  The  extent  to  which  touch  can  supply 
the  function  of  sight  is  full  of  hints  to  teachers  in  charge 
of  pupils  possessing  all  the  gate- ways  of  knowledge. 

Moreover,  not  all  units  are  equally  adapted  for  impart- 
ing the  first  ideas  of  a  fraction.  Half  of  a  stick  is  still  a 
stick  to  the  child,  just  as  half  of  a  stone  is  still  called  a 
stone  in  common  parlance.  The  half  should  be  radically 
different  from  the  unit ;  hence  an  object  resembling  a 
sphere  or  a  circle  is  best  adapted  for  the  first  lessons  in 
fractions.  In  teaching  decimals  the  square  or  Teaching 
rectangle  is  better  than  the  circle.  It  is  diffi-  decimals. 
cult  to  divide  a  circumference  into  ten  equal  parts.  On 
the  contrary,  the  square  is  easily  divided  into  tenths  by 
vertical  lines,  and  then  into  hundredths  by  horizontal 
lines,  thus  furnishing  also  a  convenient  device  for  the 
first  lessons  in  percentage. 

It  is  one  of  the  aims  of  the  training-class  and  the 
normal  school  to  point  out  the  best  methods  of  devel- 
oping the  different  basal   concepts  which  lie       Basal 
at  the  foundation  of  the  branches  to  be  taught,     concepts. 
Many  of  these  are  complex,  and  require  great  skill  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher.     The  difficulty  is  well  stated 
in  John  Fiske's  discussion  of  Symbolic  Concep- 

,.  T-.-  u  s\f  •         t         u-  V    -U    John  Fisk« 

tions.     He  says,  "  Of  any  simple  object  which     on8ym. 
can  be  grasped  in  a  single  act  of  perception,     t»iic  con- 

n  i      -f  i_      i  ceptions. 

such  as  a  knife  or  a  book,  an  egg  or  an  orange, 
a  circle  or  a  triangle,  you  can  frame  a  conception  which 
almost,  or  quite  exactly,  represents  the  object.  The  pic- 
ture, or  visual  image,  in  your  mind  when  the  orange  is 
present  to  the  senses  is  almost  exactly  reproduced  when 
it  is  absent.  The  distinction  between  the  two  lies  chiefly 


70  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

in  the  relative  faintness  of  the  latter.  But  as  the  objects 
of  thought  increase  in  size  and  in  complexity  of  detail, 
the  case  soon  comes  to  be  very  different.  You  cannot 
frame  a  truly  representative  conception  of  the  town  in 
which  you  live,  however  familiar  you  may  be  with  its 
streets  and  houses,  its  parks  and  trees,  and  the  looks  and 
demeanor  of  the  townsmen  ;  it  is  impossible  to  embrace 
so  many  details  in  a  single  mental  picture.  The  mind 
must  range  to  and  fro  among  the  phenomena,  in  order  to 
represent  the  town  in  a  series  of  conceptions.  But  prac- 
tically, what  you  have  in  mind  when  you  speak  of  the 
town  is  a  fragmentary  conception  in  which  some  portion 
of  the  object  is  represented,  while  you  are  well  aware 
that  with  sufficient  pains  a  series  of  mental  pictures 
could  be  formed  which  would  approximately  correspond 
to  the  object.  To  some  extent  the  conception  is  repre- 
sentative, but  to  a  great  degree  it  is  symbolic.  With  a 
further  increase  in  the  size  and  complexity  of  the  objects 
of  thought,  our  conceptions  gradually  lose  their  repre- 
sentative character,  and  at  length  become  purely 
symbolic.  No  one  can  form  a  mental  picture  that 
answers  even  approximately  to  the  earth.  Even  a 
homogeneous  ball  eight  thousand  miles  in  diameter  is 
too  vast  an  object  to  be  conceived  otherwise  than  sym- 
bolically, and  much  more  is  this  true  of  the  ball  upon 
which  we  live,  with  all  its  endless  multiformity  of 
detail.  We  imagine  a  globe,  and  clothe  it  with  a  few 
terrestrial  attributes,  and  in  our  minds  this  fragmentary 
notion  does  duty  as  a  symbol  of  the  earth. 

"The  case  becomes  still  more  striking  when  we  have 
to  deal  with  conceptions  of  the  universe,  of  cosmic  forces 
such  as  light  and  heat,  or  of  the  stupendous  secular 
changes  which  modern  science  calls  us  to  contemplate. 
Here  our  conceptions  cannot  even  pretend  to  represent 
the  objects ;  they  are  as  purely  symbolic  as  the  algebraic 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL          71 

equations  whereby  the  geometer  expresses  the  shapes  of 
curves.  Yet  so  long  as  there  are  means  of  verification  at 
our  command  we  can  reason  as  safely  with  these  symbolic 
conceptions  as  if  they  were  truly  representative.  The 
geometer  can  at  any  moment  translate  his  equation  into 
an  actual  curve,  and  thereby  test  the  results  of  his  reason- 
ing ;  and  the  case  is  similar  with  the  undulatory  theory 
of  light,  the  chemist's  conception  of  atomicity,  and  other 
vast  stretches  of  thought  which  in  recent  times  have 
revolutionized  our  knowledge  of  nature.  The  danger  in 
the  use  of  symbolic  conceptions  is  the  danger  of  framing 
illegitimate  symbols  that  answer  to  nothing  in  heaven  or 
earth,  as  has  happened  first  and  last  with  so  many  short- 
lived theories  in  science  and  in  metaphysics." 

The  word  conception  as  used  in  this  quotation  is  synony- 
mous with  concept,  but  elsewhere  it  is  also  used  in  two 
other  senses, — namely,  to  signify  the  mind's  power  to 
conceive  objects,  their  relations  and  classes,  and  to  name 
the  activity  by  which  the  concept  is  produced.  Hence 
the  term  concept  is  preferred  in  this  discussion. 

To  give  a  full  account  of  the  development  of  the  basal 
concepts  in  the  different  branches  of  study  would  require 
a  treatise  on  the  methods  of  teaching  these  -branches. 
All  that  can  be  attempted  is  to  draw  attention  to  some 
of  the  typical  methods  and  devices  adopted  by  eminent 
teachers  in  the  development  of  the  concepts  which  Mr. 
Fiske  calls  symbolic  conceptions.  Distance  is  one  of  the 
concepts  at  the  basis  of  geography  and  astron-  concepts  of 
omy.  To  say  that  the  circumference  of  the  distance- 
earth  is  twenty-five  thousand  miles,  that  the  distance 
of  the  moon  from  the  earth  is  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  miles,  and  that  the  distance  of  the  sun  is  ninety- 
two  and  one-half  millions  of  miles  may  mean  very  little 
to  the  human  mind,  especially  to  the  mind  of  a  child. 
Supposing,  however,  that  a  boy  finds  a  mile  by  actual 


72  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

measurement,  and  that  he  finds  he  can  walk  four  miles 
an  hour,  he  can  gradually  rise  to  the  thought  of  walking 
forty  miles  in  a  day  of  ten  hours,  or  two  hundred  and 
forty  miles  in  the  six  working  days  of  a  week.  In  one 
hundred  and  four  weeks,  or  two  years,  he  could  walk 
around  the  globe.  To  walk  to  the  moon  would  require  a 
thousand  weeks,  or  about  twenty  years.  It  is  by  the 
method  of  gradual  approach  that  concepts  of  great  dis- 
tance, of  immense  magnitudes,  of  the  infinitely  large  and 
the  infinitely  small,  must  be  developed.  To  this  category 
belong  large  cities  like  New  York  and  London,  quanti- 
ties denoting  the  size  of  the  earth  and  its  distance  from 
the  sun  and  the  fixed  stars,  the  fraction  of  a  second  in 
which  a  snap-shot  is  taken,  or  an  electric  flash  is  photo- 
graphed ;  such  quantities  are  apt  to  remain  as  mere 
figures  or  symbols  in  the  mind  of  the  learner  unless  the 
method  of  gradual  approach  is  adopted.  Starting  with 
a  town  or  a  ward  with  which  the  pupil  is  familiar,  sev- 
Large  eral  may  be  joined  in  idea  until  the  concept  of 
cities.  a  cjfy  of  fifty  or  8jxfcy  thousand  population  is 
reached.  It  takes  about  twenty  of  these  to  make  a  city 
like  Philadelphia,  and  five  cities  like  Philadelphia  to 
make  a  city  like  London.  A  lesson  on  how  London  is 
fed  will  add  much  to  the  formation  of  an  adequate  idea 
of  such  a  large  city.* 

An  adequate  idea  of  the  shape  of  the  earth  can  be 
formed  only  by  gradual  development.  The  three  kinds  of 
shape  of  roundness  (dollar,  pillar,  ball)  must  be  taught ; 
the  earth.  ^en  ^he  varjous  easily  intelligible  reasons  for 
believing  it  to  be  round  like  a  ball  may  follow  in  the  ele- 
mentary grade.  As  the  pupil  advances  he  may  be  told 
of  the  dispute  between  Newton  and  the  French,  the 
former  affirming  it  to  be  round  like  an  orange, — that  is. 

*See  "  How  London  Lives,"  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  London. 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS   THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         73 

flattened  at  the  poles, — the  latter  asserting  that  it  re- 
sembled a  lemon  with  the  polar  axis  longer  than  the 
equatorial  diameter ;  and  how,  by  measuring  degrees  of 
latitude  and  finding  that  their  length  increases  as  we 
approach  the  poles,  the  French  mathematicians,  in  spite 
of  their  wishes  to  the  contrary,  proved  Newton's  view  to 
be  correct.  The  same  lesson  might  be  taught  by  starting 
with  the  rotation  of  the  earth,  showing  by  experiment 
the  tendency  of  revolving  bodies  to  bulge  out  at  the 
equator,  and  then  drawing  the  inference  that  the  degrees 
of  latitude  are  shortest  where  the  curvature  is  greatest, 
and  that  they  are  longest  where  the  curvature  is  least. 
Either  method  is  strictly  logical ;  but  the  method  which 
follows  the  order  of  discovery,  whenever  it  is  feasible,  is 
calculated  to  arouse  the  greater  interest  in  minds  of 
average  capacity.  The  teacher  who  is  a  master  of  his 
art  will  supplement  the  historical  lesson  by  a  lesson 
passing  from  cause  to  consequence,  so  as  to  fix  and  clarify 
the  concept  formed  by  passing  from  the  ground  of  knowl- 
edge to  the  necessary  inference.  Finally,  by  drawing 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  equatorial  diameters  are  not 
all  of  the  same  length,  he  will  build  up  in  the  pupil's 
mind  a  concept  of  the  real  shape  of  the  earth, — a  shape 
unlike  any  mathematical  figure  treated  of  in  the  text- 
books on  geometry.  The  attempt  to  give  a  complete  idea 
of  the  shape  of  the  earth  in  the  first  lessons  on  geography 
would  have  ended  in  confusion  of  thought ;  the  wise 
teacher  develops  complex  concepts  gradually  and  not 
more  rapidly  than  the  learner  is  able  to  advance.  This 
process  may  be  called  enriching  the  concept.  The  suc- 
cessive concepts,  although  only  partial  representations 
of  what  is  to  be  known,  are  adequate  for  the  thinking  re- 
quired at  a  given  stage  of  development ;  the  number  of 
complete  or  exhaustive  concepts  in  any  department  of 
knowledge  is  small  indeed. 


74  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

Instructive  as  it  often  is  to  follow  the  order  of  discov- 
ery, it  must  not  be  inferred  that  this  is  invariably  the 
The  order    ^>es*  order  of  instruction.     What  teacher  of 
of  discovery  astronomy  would  be  so  foolish  as  to  lead  a 
student  through  the  nineteen  imaginary  paths 
which  Kepler  tried  before  he  discovered  that 
an  elliptical  orbit  fitted  the  recorded  observations  of 
Tycho  Brahe !  * 

Much  may  be  learned  from  the  methods  pursued  by 
eminent  teachers.  It  will  abundantly  pay  any  teacher 
of  science  to  study  Faraday's  lectures  on  the  chemistry 
of  a  candle, — a  series  which  for  models  of  developing  the 


*  "Johannes  Kepler  (1571-1630)  was  at  one  time  in  Prague  as- 
sistant to  the  Danish  astronomer  Tycho  Brahe.  Unlike  Tycho, 
Kepler  had  no  talent  for  observation  and  experimentation.  But  he 
was  a  great  thinker,  and  excelled  as  a  mathematician.  He  absorbed 
Copernican  ideas,  and  early  grappled  with  the  problem  of  deter- 
mining the  real  paths  of  the  planets.  In  his  first  attempts  he 
worked  on  the  dreams  of  the  Pythagoreans  concerning  figure  and 
number.  Intercourse  with  Tycho  led  him  to  reject  such  mysti- 
cism and  to  study  on  the  planets  recorded  by  his  master.  He  took 
the  planet  Mars,  and  found  that  no  combinations  of  circles  would 
give  a  path  which  could  be  reconciled  with  the  observations.  In 
one  case  the  difference  between  the  observed  and  his  computed 
values  was  eight  minutes,  and  he  knew  that  so  accurate  an  observer 
as  Tycho  could  not  make  an  error  so  great.  He  tried  an  oval  orbit 
for  Mars,  and  rejected  it ;  he  tried  ,an  ellipse,  and  it  fitted.  Thus, 
after  more  than  four  years  of  assiduous  computation,  and  after 
trying  nineteen  imaginary  paths,  and  rejecting  each  because  it  was 
inconsistent  with  observation,  Kepler  in  1618  discovered  the  truth. 
An  ellipse  !  Why  did  he  not  think  of  it  before  ?  What  a  simple 
matter — after  the  puzzle  is  once  solved  !  He  worked  out  what  are 
known  as  Kepler's  laws,  which  accorded  with  observation,  but 
conflicted  with  the  Ptolemaic  hypothesis.  Thus  the  old  system 
was  logically  overthrown.  But  not  until  after  a  bitter  struggle 
between  science  and  theology  did  the  new  system  find  general 
acceptation." — Cajori's  "History  of  Physics,"  pages  29,  30. 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         75 

fundamental  concepts  of  chemistry  is  unsurpassed.  The 
devices  used  by  such  teachers  are  often  very  suggestive. 
For  instance,  in  teaching  the  concept  of  the  new  geogra- 
phy that  the  earth  revolves  not  like  a  body  with  a  liquid 
interior,  but  like  a  body  with  an  interior  as  rigid  as 
glass,  Lord  Kelvin  suggests  a  comparison  of  the  spinning 
of  a  hard-boiled  egg  and  of  an  egg  not  boiled  at  all, — an 
experiment  easily  made  in  every  school-room. 

A  few  quotations  from  the  astronomer  Young  will 
show  how  concepts  of  great  distances  can  be     Ideasof 
developed  so  as  to  be  more  than  a  numeral    great  dis- 
with  a  row  of  ciphers  annexed  : 


"If  one  were  to  try  to  walk  such  a  distance,  supposing  that  he 
could  walk  four  miles  an  hour,  and  keep  it  up  for  ten  hours  every 
day,  it  would  take  sixty-eight  and  one-half  years  to  make  a  single 
million  of  miles,  and  more  than  sixty-three  hundred  years  to  trav- 
erse the  whole.  If  some  celestial  railway  could  be  imagined,  the 
journey  to  the  sun,  even  if  our  trains  ran  sixty  miles  an  hour,  day 
and  night,  without  a  stop,  would  require  over  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  years.  To  borrow  the  curious  illustration  of  Professor 
Mendenhall,  if  we  could  imagine  an  infant's  arm  long  enough  to 
enable  him  to  touch  the  sun  and  burn  himself,  he  would  die  of  old 
age  before  the  pain  could  reach  him,  since,  according  to  the  experi- 
ments of  Helmholtz  and  others,  a  nervous  shock  is  communicated 
only  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  feet  per  second,  or  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  miles  a  day,  and  would  need  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  to  make  the  journey.  Sound 
would  do  it  in  about  fourteen  years  if  it  could  be  transmitted 
through  celestial  space,  and  a  cannon-ball  in  about  nine,  if  it  were 
to  move  uniformly  with  the  same  speed  as  when  it  left  the  muzzle 
of  the  gun.  If  the  earth  could  be  suddenly  stopped  in  her  orbit, 
and  allowed  to  fall  unobstructed  towards  the  sun  under  the  accel- 
erating influence  of  his  attraction,  she  would  reach  the  centre  in 
about  two  months.  I  have  said  if  she  could  be  stopped,  but  such 
is  the  compass  of  her  orbit  that  to  make  its  circuit  in  a  year  she 
has  to  move  nearly  nineteen  miles  a  second,  or  more  than  fifty 
times  faster  than  the  swiftest  rifle-ball ;  and  in  moving  twenty 


76  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO    THINK. 

miles  her  path  deviates  from  perfect  straightness  by  less  than  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch."  * 

Professor  Young  uses  a  very  suggestive  device  in  his 
astronomy  for  showing  the  comparative  sizes  and  dis- 
tances of  heavenly  bodies : 

"  Representing  the  sun  by  a  globe  two  feet  in  diameter,  the  earth 
would  be  twenty-two-hundredths  of  an  inch  in  diameter — the  size 
of  a  very  small  pea  or  a  '  twenty-two  caliber  round  pellet.'  Its  dis- 
tance from  the  sun  on  that  scale  would  be  just  two  hundred  and 
twenty  feet,  and  the  nearest  star  (still  on  the  same  scale)  would  be 
eight  thousand  miles  away  at  the  antipodes."  f 

Sometimes  the  employment  of  a  new  unit  aids  in  real- 
izing the  idea,  of  very  great  distances.  The  ordinary 
astronomical  unit  is  the  distance  of  the  sun  from  the 
earth  ;  it  is  not  large  enough  to  be  convenient  in  express- 
ing the  distances  of  fixed  stars.  Hence  astronomers  have 
found  it  more  satisfactory  to  take  as  a  unit  the  distance 
light  travels  in  a  year,  which  is  about  sixty-three  thou- 
sand times  the  distance  of  the  sun  from  the  earth.  The 
tables  of  fixed  stars  give  distances  in  terms  of  this  unit 
from  3.5  upward.  A  glance  at  these  figures  fills  the 
mind  with  an  idea  of  the  infinite  grandeur  of  the  uni- 
verse and  with  feelings  of  awe  and  sublimity  akin  to 
those  which  must  fill  the  soul  on  approaching  the  throne 
of  Almighty  God. 

Scientists  assert  that  the  infinitely  great  is  more  easily 
conceived  than  the  infinitely  small ;  that  quantities 
represented  by  billions  and  trillions  are  more  easily 
grasped  than  fractions  of  a  unit  with  a  million  in  the 
denominator ;  that  ages  of  time  are  more  easily  com- 
prehended than  fractions  of  a  second.  In  a  lecture 

*  Young's  "The  Sun,"  pages  43,  44,  second  edition, 
t  Young's  "Astronomy,"  page  174. 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS   THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         77 

delivered  at  the  International  Electrical  Exhibition,  Pro- 
fessor Charles  F.  Himes  employed  a  very  ingenious 
device  for  giving  an  idea  of  how  a  "snap-shot"  may  be 
made,  or  a  photographic  impression  taken  of  an  electric 
spark,  or  a  flash  of  lightning.  He  exhibited  a  Time  of 
photograph  of  the  sparks  of  a  Holtz  machine,  snap-shot. 
which  are  of  shorter  duration  than  any  instantaneous 
drop  or  slide  could  be  made  to  give.  "They  impressed 
themselves  upon  an  ordinary  collodion  plate  as  they 
passed.  Suppose  we  assume  one-twenty-thousandth  of  a 
second  as  the  time,  and  we  will  be  within  bounds.  That 
is  a  fraction  difficult  to  comprehend.  Our  mental  di- 
viding engine  fails  as  we  work  towards  zero.  The 
twenty- thousandth  of  a  second  is  so  small  that  it  eludes 
our  mental  grasp.  .  .  .  Looking  at  it  from  another 
point  of  view,  let  us  regard  the  effect  as  a  space-effect 
instead  of  a  time- effect.  Light  has  a  velocity,  in  round 
numbers,  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  miles  per 
second.  That  would  be  one  hundred  and  ninety  miles 
in  one-thousandth  of  a  second,  nineteen  in  one-ten- 
thousandth,  or,  say,  ten  miles  in  our  one-twenty- 
thousandth  of  a  second.  Ten  miles  of  light  drive  in 
upon  our  plate  in  that  time  ;  or,  if  we  held  the  corpus- 
cular theory  of  Newton,  a  chain  of  these  little  pellets  ten 
miles  long  would  have  delivered  themselves  upon  the 
sensitive  surfaces.  Ten  miles  is  comprehensible,  one 
mile  is,  so  that  we  could  easily  conceive  of  an  effect  in 
one-tenth  of  the  time  allowed  to  our  electric  sparks.  But 
let  us  take  another  look  at  it.  Light  is  not  corpuscles, 
but  undulations,  tiny  wavelets,  ripplets  of  ether,  eight 
hundred  million  million  in  a  second  for  violet,  a  number 
we  can  easily  understand,  as  Sir  William  Thomson  *  has 
told  us.  That  would  make  eight  hundred  thousand 

*  Now  the  well-known  Lord  Kelvin. 


78  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

million  in  one-thousandth,  eight  thousand  million  in 
one-ten-thousandth,  or  forty  thousand  million  impulses 
striking  our  sensitive  molecules  in  our  one-twenty- 
thousandth  of  a  second.  Surely  that  number  should 
produce  an  effect.  We  can  readily  conceive  that 
one  thousand  million  wavelets  would  produce  an  appre- 
ciable effect.  They  would  represent  one-eight-hundred- 
thousandth  of  a  second,  say  one-millionth  of  a  second. 
That  would  seem,  then,  to  be  ample  time  to  produce  a 
photographic  effect."  * 

Many  teachers  of  science  spend  all  their  spare  time  in 
reading  scientific  literature  and  in  posting  themselves 
upon  the  latest  achievements  in  their  specialty.  It  might 
be  to  them  a  less  delightful  occupation  if  they  traversed 
fields  of  investigation  already  well  explored  for  the  pur- 
pose of  seeing  how  the  student  can  be  led  over  these 
most  expeditiously  and  with  minimum  expenditure  of 
time  and  effort.  Thought  bestowed  upon  the  best  way 
of  imparting  the  elements  of  science  would  have  a  most 
beneficial  effect  upon  their  methods  of  instruction,  and 
would  greatly  increase  their  skill  in  teaching.  Many 
of  the  most  abstruse  and  complex  ideas  can  be  resolved 
by  analysis  into  their  elements,  and  thereby  be  made 
intelligible  to  people  of  ordinary  training.  An  emi- 
nent teacher  of  theology  felt  called  upon  to  impart 
to  a  promiscuous  audience  an  idea  of  the  doctrine  of 
idea  of  total  depravity  as  taught  by  the  Church.  He 
total  started  by  referring  first  to  the  popular  mis- 
depravity.  take  that  the  Doctrine  teaches  the  utter  de- 
pravity of  the  human  race,  then  to  the  ancient  heresy 
that  the  depravity  of  human  nature  resides  in  the  body, 
and  not  in  the  soul,  and,  finally,  to  the  meaning  of  total 
as  signifying  not  that  man  is  as  bad  as  he  can  become, 

*  "Actinism,"  by  Professor  Charles  F.  Himes,  pages  18,  19. 


SASAL   CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         79 

but  that  lie  is  depraved,  or  has  a  tendency  towards  sin 
not  merely  in  his  physical  body,  but  in  the  totality  of  his 
being.  Analysis  prepared  them  to  see  that  by  total  de- 
pravity is  not  meant  that  men  are  as  bad  as  they  can  be,  nor 
that  they  do  not  have  in  their  natural  condition  certain 
amiable  qualities  or  certain  laudable  virtues ;  that  the 
doctrine  means  that  depravity,  or  the  sinful  condition  of 
man,  infects  the,  whole  man, — intellect,  feeling,  heart,  and 
will, — and  that  in  each  unrenewed  person  some  lower 
affection,  and  not  the  love  of  God,  is  supreme.  Such 
analysis  of  a  complex  concept  into  its  elements,  the 
explicit  setting  forth  what  it  is  and  what  it  is  not,  fol- 
lowed by  the  synthesis  of  the  parts  into  a  thought-unit, 
is  the  plan  pursued  by  the  best  teachers  in  teaching 
difficult  subjects.  By  analysis  we  resolve  complex  con- 
cepts into  their  elements,  which  may  be  simple  percepts 
or  their  relations.  Things  are  separated  in  thought 
which  go  together  in  time,  space,  motion,  force,  or  sub- 
stance. Every  essential  attribute  or  constituent  can  then 
be  viewed  by  itself  until  the  mind  has  gone  around  it 
with  the  bounding  line  of  thought,  grasped  its  nature  and 
essence,  and  explored  it  in  its  different  aspects  and  rela- 
tions. In  this  way  the  most  abstruse  subjects  are  shorn 
of  their  difficulties,  the  most  complex  problems  are 
solved  and  elucidated. 

The  bearing  of  all  this  upon  the  art  of  teaching  is 
easily  shown.     A  teacher  of  geometry,  whose  mind  was 
quite  logical,  failed,  through  lack  of  power,  to     Vaiue  of 
make  things  plain.     If  the  class  did  not  grasp     analysis, 
the  demonstration  of  a  theorem,  he  invariably  started 
at  the  beginning,  tried  to  throw  light  upon  every  link 
in  the   chain  of   proof,    and  by  the  time  he  reached 
the  point  of  difficulty  the  members  of  the  class  were 
thinking  of  something  else.     A  younger  colleague  pur- 
sued a  different  plan.     Starting  some  pupil   upon   the 


80  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

demonstration,  lie  detected  the  difficulty,  and  by  a  few 
words  of  explanation,  or  by  a  well-framed  question,  he 
focussed  attention  upon  the  simple  elements,  into  which 
he  resolved  the  difficulty,  and  frequently  surprised  the 
class  by  showing  the  simplicity  of  what  had  puzzled 
their  minds.  Under  the  clarifying  light  of  analysis  half 
the  difficulties  and  half  the  sophistries  of  human  think- 
ing vanish  like  dew  and  mist  before  the  morning  sun. 

For  the  purpose  of  making  an  impression  upon  the 
moral  nature  word-painting  is  sometimes  very  helpful. 
The  moral  All  the  text-books  on  physiology  and  hygiene 

nature,  intended  for  use  in  the  public  schools  seek  to 
teach  the  evils  of  strong  drink  by  showing  the  effect  of 
alcoholic  stimulants  upon  different  parts  of  the  human 
system.  Yet  the  most  exhaustive  lessons  on  how  whiskey 
is  made,  and  what  are  its  exhilarating  and  its  pernicious 
effects,  cannot  equal  the  effects  of  the  word-painting  of 
Eobert  Ingersoll .  and  the  paraphrase  by  Dr.  Buckley. 
In  making  a  gift  to  a  friend  the  former  penned  the  fol- 
lowing eulogy  on  whiskey : 

"I  send  you  some  of  the  most  wonderful  whiskey  that  ever 
drove  the  skeleton  from  the  feast  or  painted  landscapes  in  the  brain  of 
man.  It  is  the  mingled  souls  of  wheat  and  corn.  In  it  you  will  find 
the  sunshine  and  the  shadow  that  chased  each  other  over  the  billowy 
fields,  the  breath  of  June,  the  carol  of  the  lark,  the  dew  of  night, 
the  wealth  of  summer,  and  autumn's  rich  content,  all  golden  with 
imprisoned  light.  Drink  it,  and  you  will  hear  the  voice  of  men  and 
maidens  singing  the  'Harvest  Home,'  mingled  with  the  laughter 
of  children.  Drink  it,  and  you  will  feel  within  your  blood  the  star- 
lit dawns,  the  dreamy,  tawny  dusks  of  perfect  days.  For  forty 
years  this  liquid  joy  has  been  within  the  staves  of  oak,  longing  to 
touch  the  lips  of  man." 

This  was  Dr.  Buckley's  statement  of  the  other  side  : 

"I  send  you  some  of  the  most  wonderful  whiskey  that  ever 
brought  a  skeleton  into  the  closet,  or  painted  scenes  of  lust  and 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS  THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         81 

bloodshed  in  the  brain  of  man.  It  is  the  ghosts  of  wheat  and  corn, 
crazed  by  the  loss  of  their  natural  bodies.  In  it  you  will  find  a 
transient  sunshine  chased  by  a  shadow  as  cold  as  an  Arctic  mid- 
night, in  which  the  breath  of  June  grows  icy  and  the  carol  of  the 
lark  gives  place  to  the  foreboding  cry  of  the  raven.  Drink  it,  and 
you  shall  have  'woe,'  'sorrow,'  'babbling,'  and  'wounds  without 
cause.'  Your  eyes  shall  behold  strange  women,  and  'your  heart 
shall  utter  perverse  things.'  Drink  it  deep,  and  you  shall  hear  the 
voices  of  demons  shrieking,  women  wailing,  and  worse  than 
orphaned  children  mourning  the  loss  of  a  father  who  yet  lives. 
Drink  it  deep  and  long,  and  serpents  will  hiss  in  your  ears,  coil 
themselves  about  your  neck,  and  seize  you  with  their  fangs  ;  for  at 
the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent  and  stingeth  like  an  adder.  For 
forty  years  this  liquid  death  has  been  within  staves  of  oak,  harm- 
less there  as  purest  water.  I  send  it  to  you  that  you  may  put  an 
enemy  in  your  mouth  to  steal  away  your  brains,  and  yet  I  call 
myself  your  friend." 

There  comes  a  stage  of  development  of  the  learner  at 
which  the  word  itself  becomes  the  object  of  thought. 
Words  are  then  classified  as  parts  of  speech,  and  The  lan- 
their  function  in  sentences  is  studied.  Their  e™^*5- 
properties  and  endings  must  be  learned  and  compared. 
There  is  abundant  room  for  thought  in  the  eleven  hun- 
dred variations  of  the  Greek  verb.  The  variations  of 
words  by  declension  and  conjugation  can  be  made  the 
material  for  thought,  and  as  these  are  always  at  hand  in 
the  text-book,  no  excursions  to  the  field  being  needed  to 
secure  specimens,  and  no  preparation  of  difficult  experi- 
ments being  required  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  the 
ancient  languages  have  held  their  own  in  the  schools 
with  most  wonderful  tenacity.  The  study  of  language 
has  not  merely  the  advantage  of  supplying  material  for 
thought  in  the  words,  grammatical  forms,  and  sentences 
which  are  always  at  hand  in  the  text,  but  through  the 
classics  it  brings  the  learner  into  intellectual  contact 
with  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  in  ancient  and 
modern  times.  To  translate  an  author  like  Vergil  or 

6 


82  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

Demosthenes  is  to  think  the  thoughts  of  a  master  mind, 
to  weigh  words  as  in  a  most  nicely  adjusted  balance,  and 
finally  to  arrange  them  in  sentences  that  shall  adequately 
convey  the  meaning  of  the  original  text. 

Science  is,  of  course,  a  product  of  the  human  mind, 

quite  as  much  as  the  so-called  humanities,  and  answers 

the  same  purpose  when  studied  as  literature ; 

Science. 

but  then  it  ceases  to  have  the  value  of  training 
the  intellect  in  the  rigid  methods  of  original  research  and 
scientific  investigation.  Whilst  it  is  the  function  of  the 
laboratory  to  initiate  the  student  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  methods  by  which  new  discoveries  are  made  and 
verified,  and  thus  to  enable  him  to  avail  himself  of  the 
labors  of  others  through  their  publications,  it  does  not 
bring  the  student  into  living  contact  with  human  hopes, 
emotions,  and  aspirations  as  do  the  poems  of  Goethe, 
Schiller,  and  Shakespeare. 

History  deals  with  what  man  has  achieved.  The 
materials  for  thought  which  it  furnishes  are  mostly 
in  the  shape  of  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses 
and  other  original  sources  of  information.  The 
incidents,  the  achievements,  the  struggles,  the  victories 
and  the  defeats,  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  experiences 
of  historic  personages,  are  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
material  from  which  authors,  editors,  and  orators  draw 
illustrations,  figures  of  speech,  and  other  matter  for  their 
thinking.  Here  is  a  field  which  must  not  be  neglected 
by  those  who  would  influence  their  fellows  or  figure  as 
leaders  of  men. 

Some  minds  are  slow  at  gathering  materials  ;  yet  they 

think  vigorously.     They  look  at  facts  and  ideas  from 

vigorous    every  possible  point  of  view,  explore  their  na- 

twnking.    ture  and  relations,  their  content  and  extent, 

and  point  out  their  bearing  upon  other  things  by  the 

conclusions    they    reach.      Sometimes    they    go    astray 


BASAL   CONCEPTS  AS   THOUGHT-MATERIAL.         83 

because  they  do  not  have  sufficient  data  to  warrant  a 
conclusion.  Their  condition  resembles  that  of  the  King 
of  Siam,  wno  did  not  believe  that  water  could  become 
solid  because  he  had  been  in  the  nine  points  of  his  king- 
dom and  had  not  seen  ice. 

Other  men  are  intellectual  gluttons.  They  keep  pour- 
ing into  themselves  knowledge  from  every  quarter,  carry 
it  in  their  minds  as  the  overloaded  stomach  inteiipCtuai 
carries  food,  and  end  in  mental  dyspepsia,  gluttony. 
Better  the  man  with  few  ideas,  who  can  apply  these  in 
practical  life,  than  the  man  of  erudition  who  cannot 
apply  his  knowledge. 

Too  little  food  produces  inanition  and  starvation  ;  too 
much  food  brings  on  dyspepsia  and  a  host  of  other  ills 
and  distempers.  The  hap-hazard  selection  of  studies  by 
inexperienced  youth  from  the  large  list  of  electives 
offered  by  a  great  university  is  apt  to  result  either  in 
mental  overfeeding  or  in  intellectual  starvation.  The 
mind  can  be  rightly  formed  only  when  it  is  rightly  in- 
formed. To  expect  satisfactory  thought-products  when 
the  mind  lacks  proper  materials  to  act  upon  would  be 
as  irrational  as  to  expect  good  grist  from  a  flour- mill 
whose  supply  of  grain  is  deficient  in  quality  and  quan- 
tity. In  the  process  of  making  flour  very  much  depends 
upon  the  instruments  employed.  The  rude  implements 
of  antiquity,  the  buhr-stones  of  our  fathers,  and  the  im- 
proved machinery  of  the  roller  process  make  a  difference 
in  the  product,  even  though  the  same  quality  of  grain  is 
used.  In  the  elaboration  of  the  thought-material  the 
well-educated  man  uses  instruments  which  may  be  likened 
to  our  modern  inventions  for  saving  labor  in  the  domain 
of  the  mechanic  arts.  These  instruments  of  thought  will 
next  claim  our  attention. 


V 

THE  INSTRUMENTS  OF   THOUGHT 


But  words  are  things  ;  and  a  small  drop  of  ink 

Falling,  like  dew,  upon  thought,  produces 
That  which  makes  thousands,  perhaps  millions,  think. 

BYRON. 

Constant  thought  will  overflow  in  words  unconsciously. 

BYEON. 

The  great  Lagrange  specifies  among  the  many  advantages  of 
algebraic  notation  that  it  expresses  truths  more  general  than  those 
which  were  at  first  contemplated,  so  that  by  availing  ourselves  of 
such  extensions  we  may  develop  a  multitude  of  new  truths  from 
formulae  founded  on  limited  truths.  A  glance  at  the  history  of 
science  will  show  this.  For  example,  when  Kepler  conceived  the 
happy  idea  of  infinitely  great  and  infinitely  small  quantities  (an 
idea  at  which  common  sense  must  have  shaken  its  head  pityingly), 
he  devised  an  instrument  which  in  expert  hands  may  be  made  to 
reach  conclusions  for  an  infinite  series  of  approximations  without 
the  infinite  labor  of  going  successively  through  these.  Again, 
when  Napier  invented  logarithms,  even  he  had  no  suspicion  of  the 
value  of  this  instrument.  He  calculated  the  tables  merely  to 
facilitate  arithmetical  computation,  little  dreaming  that  he  was  at 
the  same  time  constructing  a  scale  whereon  to  measure  the  density 
of  the  strata  of  the  atmosphere,  the  height  of  the  mountains,  the 
areas  of  innumerable  curves,  and  the  relation  of  stimuli  to  sensa- 
tions. 

LEWES' s  PROBLEMS  OF  LIFE  AND  MIND. 


V 
THE   INSTRUMENTS   OF   THOUGHT 

OF  the  people  who,  though  inheriting  a  rich  vernacu- 
lar like  the  English,  spend  their  lives  in  the  routine  of  a 
farm,  a  trade,  or  a  store,  very  few  have  an  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  labor-saving  instruments  and  appliances 
which  modern  civilization  places  at  the  disposal  of  the 
thinker.  The  machinery  by  which  one  man  does  as  much 
as  a  thousand  hands  formerly  did  is  not  a  whit  more 
wonderful  than  the  modern  appliances  for  reach-  Lal30r. 
ing  results  in  the  domain  of  thought.  Eefer-  saving  in 
ence  might  be  made  to  the  machines  for  adding  thmkin&- 
used  in  counting-houses,  to  the  tables  of  interest  used  by 
bankers,  to  the  tables  of  logarithms  by  which  it  is  as  easy 
to  find  the  one-hundredth  power  as  the  square  of  a  num- 
ber. The  last  named  have,  so  to  speak,  multiplied  the 
lives  of  astronomers  by  enabling  them  to  make  in  a  short 
time  calculations  that  formerly  occupied  months,  and  even 
years.  It  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  these  ;  their  value  is 
apparent  at  a  glance.  But  the  value  of  a  rich  vocabulary, 
the  function  of  the  symbols  and  formulas  of  chemistry, 
physics,  mathematics,  and  other  sciences,  and  the  advan- 
tages derived  from  the  use  of  the  technical  terms  peculiar 
to  every  domain  of  thought  are  not  so  easily  seen.  The 
teacher  who  fails  at  the  right  time  to  put  the  pupils  in 
possession  of  these  instruments  of  thought  cripples  their 
thinking,  wastes  their  time  and  effort,  and  seriously  mars 
their  progress.  Hence  it  is  worth  while  to  devote  a 
chapter  or  two  to  the  consideration  of  instruments  of 

87 


88  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

thought,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how,  by  means  of 
them,  thinking  is  made  easier  and  more  effective.  Let 
some  one  write  the  amounts  in  a  ledger  column  by  the 
Eoman  notation,  then  endeavor  to  add  them  without 
using  any  figures  of  the  Arabic  notation,  either  in  his 
mind  or  in  any  other  way,  and  he  will  soon  realize 
what  a  labor-saving  device  our  ten  digits  are.  Then 
let  him  face  the  problem  of  squaring  the  circle  as  it 
squaring  confronted  Archimedes,  using  the  obvious  truth 
the  circle,  that  the  perimeter  of  an  inscribed  polygon  is 
less,  while  the  perimeter  of  the  circumscribed  polygon 
is  greater  than  the  circumference  of  the  circle,  and  long 
before  his  calculations  reach  the  regular  polygon  of 
ninety-six  sides  (which  is  as  far  as  Archimedes  carried 
it),  he  will  realize  how  the  great  Syracusan  was  ham- 
pered by  the  lack  of  the  arithmetical  notation  now  in 
use.  Next,  supposing  himself  in  possession  of  the  Arabic 
method  of  notation,  let  him  conceive  the  labor  of  Eu- 
dolph  von  Ceulen,  who,  before  logarithms  were  known, 
computed  the  ratio  of  the  circumference  to  the  diameter 
to  thirty -five  decimal  places, — an  achievement  considered 
so  great  that  the  result  was  inscribed  upon  his  tombstone, 
— and  then,  turning  to  the  calculus,  let  him  examine  the 
formulas  by  which  Clausen  and  Base,  of  Germany,  com- 
puting independently  of  each  other,  carried  out  the  value 
to  two  hundred  decimal  places,  their  results  agreeing  to 
the  last  figure ;  this  will  give  him  a  conception  of  the 
superior  instruments  of  thought  invented  by  those  who 
developed  the  calculus.  His  idea  of  the  labor-saving 
devices  introduced  by  the  calculus  will  be  heightened 
still  more  on  learning  that  Mr.  Shanks,  of  Durham, 
England,  carried  the  calculation  to  six  hundred  and 
seven  decimal  places, — a  result  so  nearly  accurate  that 
if  it  were  correctly  used  in  calculating  the  circumference 
of  the  visible  universe,  the  possible  error  would  be  in- 


THE  INSTRUMENTS   OF   THOUGHT.  89 

appreciable  in  the  most  powerful  microscope.  On  further 
learning  that  in  1882  Lindeman,  of  Konigsberg,  rigor- 
ously proved  this  ratio,  commonly  represented  by  the 
symbol  7t,  to  be  incapable  of  representation  as  the  root 
of  any  algebraic  equation  whatever  with  rational  co- 
efficients, he  will  not  only  refrain  from  joining  the  com- 
mon herd  of  squarers  of  the  circle,  but  no  further  argu- 
ment will  be  needed  to  show  the  nature  and  value  of 
the  labor-saving  devices  introduced  into  the  domain  of 
thought  by  modern  mathematics. 

Since  it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  that  every  reader 
shall  be  familiar  with  higher  mathematics,  the  duty  of 
using  simpler  illustrations  cannot  be  evaded.  For- 
tunately for  the  purpose  in  hand,  the  book  of  experience 
furnishes  these  with  an  abundance  that  is  almost 
bewildering. 

A  professor  of  chemistry  was  lecturing  to  an  audience 
of  teachers  on  agriculture.  When  he  began  to  write 
upon  the  black-board  they  smiled  at  his  spell- 
ing. Iron  he  wrote  Fe.  Water  he  spelled  H2O. 
They  soon  saw  that  he  was  using  the  instruments  of 
thought  furnished  by  a  science  with  which,  unfortunately, 
few  of  them  were  familiar.  He  had  found  that  the  use 
of  these  chemical  symbols  made  his  thinking  as  much 
superior  to  that  of  the  ordinary  man  as  the  work  of  the 
youth  upon  a  self-binder  is  superior  to  that  of  the  giant 
working  with  no  better  instrument  than  the  sickle  of  our 
forefathers. 

The  school  furnishes  numerous  examples  to  illustrate 
this  point.  When  the  teachers  of  a  well-known  city 
began  the  use  of  objects  to  impart  the  ideas  of  number 
and  of  the  fundamental  rules  in  arithmetic,  the  interest 
of  the  pupils  and  their  facility  in  calculation  grew  won- 
derfully. The  teaching  was  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  mental  growth.  For  fear  the  pupils  would  manipulate 


90  THINKING   AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

the  Arabic  figures  without  corresponding  ideas,  collec- 
tions and  equal  parts  of  objects  were  drawn  upon  the 
slate  to  illustrate  addition  and  subtraction  of  integers  and 
fractions.  The  plan  was  followed  for  years  and  carried 
upward  through  the  grades.  Finally  the  pupils  were 
examined  for  admission  into  the  high  school.  A 
problem  involving  the  four  fundamental  rules  in  com- 
binations which  could  not  be  illustrated  by  pictures 
of  objects,  or  the  objects  themselves,  was  set  for  solution. 
Out  of  fifty-nine  applicants,  only  ten  succeeded  in  giving 
the  correct  answer.  The  same  kind  of  problem  was 
given  three  times  by  three  different  persons,  and  with 
practically  the  same  outcome.  The  teachers  realized  that 
they  had  kept  up  for  too  long  a  time  the  thinking  in 
things,  instead  of  drilling  the  pupils  upon  the  process  of 
thinking  in  the  symbols  of  the  Arabic  notation.  It  is, 
of  course,  possible  to  think  number  without  using  the 
Arabic  digits.  The  Eomans  did  so  by  means  of  their 
counting-boards,  and  the  Chinese  do  so  by  devices  of 
their  own.  The  characters  which  were  brought  into 
Western  Europe  through  Arabic  influences  are  derived, 
according  to  Max  Mueller,  from  the  first  letters  of  the 
Sanskrit  words  for  the  first  ten  numerals.  Their  use 
Arabic  facilitated  calculation  to  such  an  extent  that 
notation,  arithmetic  gradually  ceased  to  be  the  preroga- 
tive of  slaves  and  ecclesiastics  ;  its  operations  began  to 
be  understood  by  freemen  and  by  the  nobility.  If  chil- 
dren are  denied  the  use  of  objects  in  their  early  lessons 
in  number,  they  resort  to  counting  on  their  fingers.  If 
they  are  not  led  from  this  thinking  on  their  fingers  to 
thinking  in  figures,  they  will  never  become  expert  in 
arithmetic.  Sometimes  the  fingers  no  longer  move,  but 
the  mind  conceives  pictures  of  the  hand,  and  the  mind's 
eye  runs  along  the  fingers  of  hands  not  visible  to  the 
corporeal  eye.  It  is  equally  bad  if  the  pupils  never 


THE  INSTRUMENTS   OF   THOUGHT.  91 

think  number  except  by  mental  pictures  of  blocks, 
sticks,  balls,  and  the  like.  When  the  pupil  sees  7x9,  he 
should  not  conceive  seven  heaps  of  nine  shoe-pegs  each, 
and  then  a  rearrangement  into  six  groups  of  ten  shoe- 
pegs,  and  three  stray  ones  alongside  of  these  groups  ;  but 
instantaneously  the  symbols  7x9  should  suggest,  with 
unerring  accuracy,  the  result, — 63. 

In  the  schools  of  another  district  the  principal  proposed 
concrete  work  in  fractions.  The  teachers  and  pupils 
began  to  divide  things  into  halves,  and  thirds, 
and  fourths,  and  sixths.  They  added  and  sub- 
tracted by  subdividing  these  into  fractions  that  de- 
noted equal  parts  of  a  unit.  Whilst  the  charm  of  nov- 
elty still  clung  to  the  process,  a  stranger  who  visited  the 
schools  asked  one  of  the  teachers  how  the  pupils  and 
parents  liked  the  change.  "  Everybody  is  delighted," 
was  the  exclamation.  A  year  later  the  same  teacher  was 
asked  by  the  visitor,  "How  are  you  succeeding  with 
your  concrete  work  in  fractions?"  With  a  dejected  air 
she  replied,  "We  are  disappointed  with  the  results." 
"  Just  as  I  expected,"  exclaimed  the  visitor  ;  "for  you 
were  making  the  children  think  on  the  level  of  barbar- 
ism, instead  of  teaching  them  to  use  the  tools  and  labor- 
saving  machinery  of  modern  civilization." 

Still  another  incident,  taken  from  actual  life,  will 
serve  to  throw  light  upon  the  subject  under  discussion. 
In  the  booming  days  of  the  iron  industry  a  laborer  had 
saved  and  put  out  at  interest  twelve  hundred  dollars. 
The  rate  was  six  per  cent.,  and  no  interest  had  been 
paid  for  one  year  and  four  months.  Unable  to  reckon 
interest  with  figures,  the  toiler  asked  the  principal  of 
the  schools  to  tell  him  the  amount  of  interest  Reckoning 
due.  Next  day  he  greeted  the  principal  by  interest. 
asking,  "Did  you  not  make  a  mistake  in  your  calcula- 
tion?" The  reply  was,  "In  my  hurry  to  avoid  being 


92  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

late  at  school  I  may  have  made  a  mistake. ' '  He  found  that 
the  man  was  right,  and  curiosity  led  him  to  ask  how  the 
error  had  been  detected.  "I  reckoned  it,"  said  the 
man.  This  aroused  still  greater  curiosity  ;  for  the  prin- 
cipal knew  that,  beyond  the  ability  to  count,  the  man 
had  no  knowledge  of  arithmetic.  By  agreement  they 
met  on  Saturday  afternoon,  so  that  the  man  might  show 
his  method  of  reckoning  interest.  At  the  appointed 
hour  the  man  laid  six  pennies  on  the  floor  to  denote  a 
year's  interest  on  one  dollar,  and  then  laid  two  pennies 
alongside  of  these  as  the  additional  interest  on  a  dollar 
for  four  months.  The  supply  of  pennies  being 
exhausted,  he  made  strokes  with  chalk,  and  proceeded 
to  do  this  twelve  hundred  times,  and  then  to  count  them 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  interest.  It  was 
thinking  in  things  with  a  vengeance.  And  yet  the 
making  of  strokes  with  chalk  was  a  step  in  symbolic 
representation,  and  shows  the  innate  tendency  of  the 
human  mind  to  use  symbols  in  thinking. 

Even  the  words  used  in  counting  are  symbols.    In  fact, 
every  word  that  signifies  anything  is  a  symbol  used  by 
the  mind  to  indicate  an  idea  more  or  less  com- 
plex, as  well  as  the  thing  or  things  or  relation 
of  things  in  the  external  world  which  corresponds  to  the 
idea.     In  advanced  thinking  the  words   denote   ideas 
more  and  more  complex  as  the  problems  grow  in  diffi- 
culty or  involve  more  of  the  abstract  and  general  con- 
cepts under  which  the  mind  classifies  the  objects  of  which 
it  takes  cognizance.     This  is  more  largely  true  of  the 
words  in  a  developed  language  than  it  is  of  a  dialect 
with  little  or  no  literature.     A  reference  to  the  writer' s 
early  home  will  be  pardoned  in  this  connec- 

Dialects.  J 

tion.  His  father,  a  plain  farmer  in  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  sent  four  sons  through  college  and  gave 
each  of  them  a  professional  or  university  education. 


THE  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.  93 

"When  they  gather  under  the  parental  roof  they  use  the 
dialect  of  their  early  days  in  discussing  life  on  the  farm 
and  in  rehearsing  the  funny  experiences  of  their  boy- 
hood; but  when  they  discuss  a  question  in  science  or 
mathematics,  in  law,  medicine,  or  theology,  they  drop  the 
dialect  of  their  boyhood  and  use  the  instruments  of 
thought  furnished  by  languages  having  a  literature. 
Some  one  has  facetiously  said  of  one  town  in  the  Lehigh 
Valley  that  the  people  pray  in  seven  languages  and  swear 
in  eight.  It  is  a  witty  statement  of  an  actual  fact.  The 
"Welshman  can  pray  as  well  as  swear  in  his  native 
tongue.  The  Pennsylvania  German  can  vent  his  feel- 
ings fully  in  his  own  dialect  when  he  grows  profane.  As 
soon  as  he  says  his  prayers  he  reverts  to  the  language 
of  the  pulpit  and  of  Luther's  Bible  because  he  there 
finds  the  words  which  express  the  deepest  wants  and 
emotions  of  the  human  soul. 

"When  Melanchthon  prepared  the  Saxony  school  plan 
he  insisted  that  pupils  should  read  Latin,  write  Latin, 
and  speak  Latin  to  the  exclusion  of  the  mother  Meianch- 
tongue.  If  an  educator  of  to-day  should  ad-  thon- 
vocate  this  policy  in  the  fatherland,  he  would  be  ban- 
ished. Melanchthon,  surnained  preceptor  Germanise, 
knew  what  he  was  about.  He  taught  at  a  time  when 
teachers  of  the  humanities  lamented  that  children  were 
born  in  the  homes  of  parents  speaking  German.  He 
lectured  at  a  time  when  Luther  and  his  colleagues  were 
visiting  market-places  to  talk  with  the  peasants  for  the 
purpose  of  gathering  words  and  phrases  by  which  the 
New  Testament  might  be  adequately  rendered  in  the 
vernacular  of  the  common  people.  A  devel-  Growth  of 
opment  extending  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  the  German 
years  was  required  before  the  lecturers  at  the  lan&uaee- 
universities  found  in  it  enough  words  and  phrases  to 
serve  as  instruments  of  thought  for  purposes  of  ad- 


94  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

vanced  investigation  and  ratiocination.  So  rich  and 
flexible  has  the  German  become  that  Yoss  succeeded  in 
translating  Homer  into  German,  using  the  same  metre, 
the  same  number  of  lines,  without  adding  to  or  subtract- 
ing from  the  ideas  of  the  original.  Schlegel's  translation 
of  Shakespeare  is  equally  famous  and  equally  successful. 
Both  of  these  masterpieces  show  how  essential  a  rich 
vocabulary  is  in  rendering  or  in  reproducing  the  best 
thoughts  of  the  best  minds;  they  show  the  impor- 
tance of  linguistic  development  and  linguistic  teaching, 
value  of  ^or  PurP°ses  °f  thought  and  culture  a  rich 
a  rich  mother  tongue  is  of  untold  advantage.  It  is 
vocabulary.  a  gj.ea^  blessing  to  be  born  and  raised  in  a 
home  presided  over  by  a  well-educated  mother.  It  is  an 
invaluable  help  to  be  trained  in  schools  whose  teachers 
speak  and  write  the  languages  which  have  felt  the  touch 
of  the  genius  of  Shakespeare  and  of  Goethe.  Next 
to  furnishing  ideas  or  something  to  think  about,  the 
thing  of  most  importance  in  teaching  a  pupil  to  think  is 
to  enrich  his  vocabulary,  to  train  him  in  language.  Dr. 
Whewell  has  well  remarked  that  "  language  is  the 
atmosphere  in  which  thought  lives,  for  there  is  hardly  a 
subject  we  can  think  about  without  the  aid  of  language. 
Consequently,  without  knowledge  of  the  language  of  a 
science  all  thinking  with  regard  to  that  science  is  impos- 
sible ;  for  although  we  conceive  the  world  by  means  of 
our  senses,  we  comprehend  it  only  in  and  through  the 
form  of  language."  In  this  connection  one  cannot  do 
better  than  listen  to  the  conclusions  of  men  who  have 
attained  eminence  as  scholars,  thinkers,  and  writers. 
Speaking  from  experience,  they  can  throw  light  upon  the 
art  of  correct  and  efficient  thinking. 

11  Language,  we  must  remember,"  says  Dr.  Morrell, 
"is  not  constructed  afresh  by  every  individual  mind 
which  uses  it.  It  is  a  world  already  created  for  us,— 


THE  INSTRUMENTS   OF  THOUGHT.  95 

one  into  which  we  have  simply  to  be  introduced,  and  in 
which  the  process  of  human  development,  up  to  any  given 
period,  is  more  or  less  perfectly  preserved 

•  i.        j         T>        n      4.-  /•       i        v.       Dr.Morrell. 

and  registered.  Eecollection,  accordingly,  by 
enabling  us  to  appropriate  to  ourselves  a  whole  system 
of  signs,  with  the  ideas  attached  to  them,  initiates  us 
insensibly  into  the  intellectual  world  of  the  present,  puts 
us  upon  the  vantage-ground  of  the  latest  degree  of  civil- 
ization, and  enables  us  to  grasp  the  ideas  of  the  age  with- 
out the  labor  of  thinking  them  out  consecutively  by  our 
own  individual  effort."  * 

" Language,"  says  Dr.  Whewell,  "is  often  called  an 
instrument  of  thought ;  but  it  is  also  the  nutriment  of 
thought ;  or,  rather,  it  is  the  atmosphere  in  Dr. 
which  thought  lives ;  a  medium  essential  to  wheweii. 
the  activity  of  our  speculative  power,  although  invisible 
and  imperceptible  in  its  operation ;  and  an  element 
modifying,  by  its  qualities  and  changes,  the  growth 
and  complexion  of  the  faculties  which  it  feeds.  In 
this  way  the  influence  of  preceding  discoveries  upon 
subsequent  ones,  of  the  past  upon  the  present,  is  most 
penetrating  and  universal,  though  most  subtle  and  diffi- 
cult to  trace.  The  most  familiar  words  and  phrases  are 
connected  by  imperceptible  ties  with  the  reasonings  and 
discoveries  of  former  men  and  most  distant  times.  Their 
knowledge  is  an  inseparable  part  of  ours ;  the  present 
generation  inherits  and  uses  the  scientific  wealth  of  all 
the  past.  And  this  is  the  fortune  not  only  of  the  great 
and  rich  in  the  intellectual  world,  of  those  who  have 
the  key  to  the  ancient  storehouses  and  who  have  accumu- 
lated treasures  of  their  own,  but  the  humblest  inquirer, 
while  he  puts  his  reasoning  into  words,  benefits  by  the 

*  Dr.  Morrell's  "Elements  of  Psychology,"  quoted  by  Galloway 
in  "Education,  Scientific  and  Technical,"  page  165. 


96  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

labors  of  the  greatest  discoverers.  When  he  counts  his 
little  wealth,  he  finds  he  has  in  his  hands  coins  which 
bear  the  image  and  superscription  of  ancient  and  modern 
intellectual  dynasties  ;  and  that,  in  virtue  of  this  posses- 
sion, acquisitions  are  in  his  power,  solid  knowledge 
within  his  reach,  which  none  could  ever  have  attained 
to  if  it  were  not  that  the  gold  of  truth,  once  dug  out  of 
the  mine,  circulates  more  and  more  widely  among  man- 
kind." * 

"The  word  'vernacular,'  "  says  Hinsdale,  "is  derived 

from  vernaculus,  which  comes  from  verna,  a  slave  born  in 

Dr.  Hins-    his  master's  house  ;  and  it  means  the  speech  to 

dale.  which  one  is  born  and  in  which  he  is  reared, — 
the  patrius  sermo  of  the  Eoman,  the  Mutter-sprache  of 
the  German,  the  mother  tongue  of  the  Englishman. 
Command  of  a  noble  vernacular  involves  the  most  valu- 
able discipline  and  culture  that  a  man  is  capable  of 
receiving.  It  conditions  all  other  discipline  and  culture. 
.  .  .  The  greatest  mental  inheritance  to  which  a  German, 
a  Frenchman,  or  an  Englishman  is  born  is  his  native 
tongue,  rich  in  the  knowledge  and  wisdom,  the  ideas 
and  thoughts,  the  wit  and  fancy,  the  sentiment  and  feel- 
ing, of  a  thousand  years.  Nay,  of  more  than  a  thousand 
years ;  for  these  languages,  in  their  modern  forms,  were 
enriched  by  still  earlier  centuries.  To  come  back  to  the 
old  thought,  such  a  speech  as  one  of  these  only  flows  out 
from  such  a  life  as  it  expresses,  and  is  in  turn  essential 
to  the  existence  of  that  life."  f 

Parents  who  wish  their  children  to  possess  the  best 
instruments  of  thought  cannot  be  too  careful  in  the  selec- 
tion of  teachers  for  them.  Children  whose  mother  tongue 

*  Quoted  by  Galloway  in  "  Education,  Scientific  and  Technical," 
pages  116,  117. 
f  Hinsdale' s  "The  Language  Arts,"  pages  17,  18. 


THE  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.  97 

is  a  dialect  should  be  trained  in  one  or  more  of  the  lan- 
guages that  have  been  enriched  by  centuries  of  develop- 
ment and  literary  culture.  The  best  that  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania-German  extraction  can  do  for  future  gener- 
ations is  to  make  the  transition  as  speedily  as  possible 
from  their  vernacular — so  poverty-stricken  in  its  vocabu- 
lary— to  the  English,  with  its  abundant  vocabu- 
lary and  its  unsurpassed  literary  treasures.  In 
the  English  they  will  find  the  instruments  of  thought 
fitted  to  develop  native  powers  that  have  been  inherited 
from  an  ancestry  of  sturdy  husbandmen,  and  strength- 
ened through  heredity  by  centuries  of  contact  with  the 
soil;  even  as  the  giant  Antaeus,  in  wrestling  with  Her- 
cules, is  fabled  to  have  gained  new  strength  as  often  as 
he  came  in  contact  with  mother  earth.  The  same  advice 
will  apply  to  the  other  nationalities  who  have  come  to 
live  on  American  soil,  even  though  they  have  brought 
with  them  a  more  developed  vernacular.  The  English 
dictionary  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
words  ;  but  besides  these  words  in  common  use,  the  dic- 
tionaries of  the  specialists  contain  several  hundred  thou- 
sand more,  which  may  be  called  technical  terms,  and 
which  serve  as  instruments  of  thought  in  scientific  dis- 
cussions and  investigations.  To  these  we  next  turn  our 
attention. 


VI 

TECHNICAL  TERMS  AS  INSTRUMENTS 
OF   THOUGHT 


It  is  the  power  of  thinking  by  means  of  symbols  which  demar- 
cates men  from  animals,  and  gives  one  man  or  nation  the  superior- 
ity over  others. 

LEWES. 

Hardly  any  original  thoughts  on  mental  or  social  subjects  ever 
make  their  way  among  mankind  or  assume  their  proper  importance 
in  the  minds  even  of  their  inventors  until  aptly  selected  words  or 
phrases  have,  as  it  were,  nailed  them  down  and  held  them  fast. 

J.  S.  MILL. 

Though  most  readers,  probably,  entertain,  at  first,  a  persuasion 
that  a  writer  ought  to  content  himself  with  the  use  of  common 
words  in  their  common  sense,  and  feel  a  repugnance  to  technical 
terms  and  arbitrary  rules  of  phraseology,  as  pedantic  and  trouble- 
some, it  is  soon  found  by  the  student  of  any  branch  of  science  that, 
without  technical  terms  and  fixed  rules,  there  can  be  no  certain  or 
progressive  knowledge.  The  loose  and  infantine  grasp  of  common 
language  cannot  hold  objects  steadily  enough  for  scientific  examina- 
tion, or  lift  them  from  one  stage  of  generalization  to  another. 
They  must  be  secured  by  the  rigid  mechanism  of  a  scientific 
phraseology.  This  necessity  has  been  felt  in  all  the  sciences,  from 
the  earliest  periods  of  their  progress. 

WHBWELL. 

Ideas  and  existences  are  represented  by  terms  and  phrases  ;  and 
as  terms  and  phrases  are  representative  of  thoughts  and  things, 
and  are  the  means  which  enable  us  to  speak  about  them,  the  defi- 
nitions, descriptions,  and  explanations  of  terms  form  a  very  neces- 
sary part  of  science  ;  and  he  who  would  understand  science  must 
learn  the  meaning  of  the  special  terms  employed  in  it. 

GORE. 


100 


VI 


TECHNICAL   TERMS  AS   INSTRUMENTS 
OF   THOUGHT 

SOME  teachers  are  very  much  afraid  of  technical  terms. 
They  teach  their  pupils  to  say  name-word  instead  of 
noun,  action-word  instead  of  verb,  and  bring  Technical 
over  instead  of  transpose.  There  is  no  end  to  term8- 
the  phrases  they  invent  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  technical 
terms.  Acting  on  the  maxim  that  a  pupil  shall  never 
be  allowed  to  use  a  word  without  comprehending  its 
meaning,  they  prefer  to  use  compound  words  and 
phrases  to  denote  the  fundamental  ideas  of  the  various 
branches  of  study.  This  fear  of  technical  terms  is  a 
natural  result  of  the  reaction  against  rote  teaching.  So 
much  has  been  said  and  written  against  the  teaching  of 
mere  words,  especially  big  words,  against  parrot-like 
recitations  of  definitions,  rules,  principles,  and  forms  of 
statement  given  in  the  text-book  or  wrought  out  by  the 
teacher,  that  many  people  fail  to  see  the  value  of  technical 
terms  as  instruments  of  thought.  A  separate  Their 
chapter  is  necessary  to  point  out  their  function  Talue- 
in  scientific  thinking  and  instruction.  In  common  par- 
lance the  use  of  technical  terms  should  be  avoided.  Do 
we  say  that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  a  long  noun  or  a  long 
name  ?  Noun  is  a  technical  term  ;  name  is  the  word  in 
ordinary  use.  Do  we  say  that  a  man  broke  his  femur  or 
his  leg  ?  The  doctors  who  set  the  limb  will  probably  use 

101 


102  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

the  technical  term  in  their  conferences.  In  talking  with 
the  common  people  they  use  the  common  names,  unless 
they  wish  to  awe  the  multitudes  by  a  show  of  learning. 
Often,  indeed,  men  use  big  words  to  hide  their  ignorance. 
In  physiology  the  investigations  are  carried  as  far  as 
possible,  and  then  a  term  is  coined  to  cover  the  unknown. 
Often  high-sounding  words  are  strung  together  to  cover 
a  lack  of  ideas  or  to  establish  a  reputation  for  erudition. 
These  are  tricks  to  which  a  genuine  teacher  has  no  occa- 
sion to  resort.  It  is  his  duty  to  ascertain  the  educational 
value  of  the  technical  terms  of  science,  and  to  use  these 
terms  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  scientific  ideas  in  the  mind 
and  of  causing  the  pupil  to  think  clearly  and  exactly. 

At  the  basis  of  every  science,  as  we  have  seen,  there 
are  certain  ideas  which  cannot  be  conveyed  to  other 
minds  by  the  use  of  the  corresponding  technical  terms. 

Basal  These  basal  concepts  must  be  built  up  in  the 
concepts,  learner's  mind  by  skilful  teaching,  sometimes 
by  the  very  process  by  which  the  race  acquired  or  dis- 
covered them.  It  may  require  a  trip  to  the  field,  to  the 
museum,  or  to  the  mine  ;  or  an  experiment  in  the  labora- 
tory may  be  necessary.  Perhaps  a  development  lesson  is 
needed  to  enable  the  pupil  to  grasp  the  idea  clearly  and 
fully.  It  is  very  certain  that  if  the  idea  is  hazy  and  ill- 
defined,  the  subsequent  thinking  will  be  loose,  obscure, 
and  unsatisfactory.  The  glib  use  of  technical  terms  may 
often  hide  from  the  teacher  the  defects  of  the  pupil's 
thinking,  and  it  may  require  an  examination  to  reveal 
the  points  wherein  the  teacher  has  failed.  Questions 
which  require  a  pupil  to  look  at  his  knowledge  from  a 
new  point  of  view  are  helpful ;  an  examination  abound- 
ing in  such  questions  may  be  an  intellectual  blessing  to 
both  teacher  and  pupil.  The  examiner  should,  of  course, 
avoid  puzzling  catch-questions,  for  these  are  calculated 
to  embarrass  the  pupil  and  confuse  his  thinking. 


TECHNICAL   TERMS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.     103 

.A  clear  thinker  can  always  make  his  ideas  intelligible 
to  those  who  have  acquired  the  basal  concepts  of  the 
things,  principles,  and  laws  with  which  he  popular 
deals.  Lecturers  on  popular  science  avoid  the  ^ct^es- 
abstruse  questions  of  advanced  science  and  the  technical 
terms  which  do  not  convey  a  definite  meaning  to  the 
average  hearer.  They  select  topics  which  can  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  language  of  common  life,  and  often  state  the 
results  of  scientific  research  without  leading  the  audience 
through  the  successive  steps  by  which  these  results  are 
obtained.  The  popular  lecture  requires  special  gifts  that 
are  not  in  the  possession  of  every  scientist.  Huxley  was 
one  of  the  most  gifted  men  of  the  century  ;  yet  he  says  of 
himself, — 

"I  have  not  been  one  of  those  fortunate  persons  who 
are  able  to  regard  a  popular  lecture  as  a  mere  hors 
cPceuvre  unworthy  of  being  ranked  among  the 
serious  efforts  of  a  philosopher,  and  who  keep 
their  fame  as  scientific  hierophants  unsullied  by  attempts 
— at  least  of  the  successful  sort — to  be  understanded  by 
the  people.  On  the  contrary,  I  have  found  that  the  task 
of  putting  the  truths  learned  in  the  field,  the  laboratory, 
and  the  museum  into  language  which,  without  bating  a 
jot  of  scientific  accuracy,  shall  be  generally  intelligible, 
taxed  such  scientific  and  literary  faculty  as  I  possessed 
to  the  uttermost ;  indeed,  my  experience  has  furnished 
me  with  no  better  corrective  of  the  tendency  to  scholastic 
pedantry,  which  besets  all  those  who  are  absorbed  in 
pursuits  remote  from  the  common  ways  of  men,  and  be- 
come habituated  to  think  and  speak  in  the  technical 
dialect  of  their  own  little  world,  as  if  there  were  no 
other." 

There  is  an  error,  on  the  other  hand,  into  which  prac- 
tical men  fall  when  they  object  to  the  technical  language 
of  the  scientist.  There  are  many  things  in  science  which 


104          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

cannot  be  made  plain  to  the  non-scientific  mind.  The 
difficulty  lies  not  in  the  terminology  employed,  but  in 
Exact  the  lack  of  the  basal  concepts  necessary  for  the 
thinking,  advanced  thinking  which  must  be  employed. 
Says  Eobert  Galloway,  "  Words  when  employed  in  sci- 
ence, unlike  their  employment  in  common  use,  have  a 
meaning  steadily  fixed  and  precisely  determined ;  this 
precision  in  the  meaning  of  scientific  terms  necessarily 
requires  on  the  part  of  those  who  can  make  proper  use 
of  them  accurate  habits  of  thought ;  this  is  an  indispensable 
qualification  for  attainment  in  any  science ;  there  is  no 
dispensing  with  it,  consequently  one  who  does  not  know 
the  language  of  a  science,  and  who  has  not  been  taught 
to  think  accurately  with  respect  to  it,  cannot  understand 
properly  what  may  be  told  or  shown  him  about  the  facts 
or  principles  of  that  science." 

From  this  point  of  view  it  is  easy  to  see  the  use  which 
the  teacher  should  make  of  technical  terms.  Circumlo- 
cutions and  explanatory  phrases  may  be  helpful  in 
developing  fundamental  ideas,  but  the  corresponding 
technical  terms  should  be  associated  with  the  ideas  as 
soon  as  these  assume  clear,  definite  shape.  Language  is 
the  atmosphere  in  which  thinking  lives ;  technical  lan- 
guage is  as  necessary  to  the  scientific  thought  as  the  air 
we  breathe  is  to  the  physical  life.  In  one  of  his  letters 
to  a  young  man  whose  education  had  been  neglected,  De 
Quincey  renders  an  important  service  to  the 

DeQuincey.        .  "  *  . 

science  of  teaching.  "  In  assigning  to  the  com- 
plex notion  X  the  name  transcendental,  Kant  was  not 
simply  transferring  a  word  which  had  previously  been 
used  by  the  school-men  to  a  more  useful  office ;  he  was 
bringing  into  the  service  of  the  intellect  a  new  birth ; 
that  is,  drawing  into  a  synthesis,  which  had  not  ex- 
isted before  as  a  synthesis,  parts  or  elements  which 
exist  and  come  forward  hourly  in  every  man's  mind.  I 


TECHNICAL   TERMS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.     1Q5 

urge  this  upon  your  attention,  because  you  will  often  hear 
such  challenges  thrown  out  as  this  (or  others  involving 
the  same  error) :  '  Now,  if  there  be  any  sense  in  this  Mr. 
Kant's  writings,  let  us  have  it  in  good  old  mother 
English.'  That  is,  in  other  words,  transfer  into  the 
unscientific  language  of  life  scientific  notions  which  it  is 
not  fitted  to  express.  The  challenger  proceeds  upon  the 
common  error  of  supposing  all  ideas  fully  developed  to 
exist  in  esse  in  all  understandings,  ergo,  his  own  ;  and  all 
that  are  in  his  own  he  thinks  we  can  express  in  English. 
Thus  the  challenger,  in  his  own  notions,  has  you  in  a 
dilemma,  at  any  rate ;  for,  if  you  do  not  translate  it, 
then  it  confirms  his  belief  that  the  whole  is  jargon ;  if 
you  do  (as,  doubtless,  with  the  help  of  much  periphrasis, 
that  will  be  intelligible  to  a  man  who  already  under- 
stands the  philosophy),  then  where  was  the  use  of  the 
terminology  ?  But  the  way  to  deal  with  this  fellow  is  as 
follows :  My  good  sir,  I  shall  do  what  you  ask  ;  but 
before  I  do  it  I  beg  you  will  oblige  me  by  (1)  translating 
this  mathematics  into  the  language  of  chemistry;  (2) 
translating  this  chemistry  into  the  language  of  mathe- 
matics; (3)  both  into  the  language  of  cookery,  and, 
finally,  solve  me  the  Cambridge  problem,  Given  the  cap- 
tain's name,  the  year  of  our  Lord,  to  determine  the  lon- 
gitude of  the  ship  ?  This  is  the  way  to  deal  with  such 
fellows." 

Technical  terms  are  very  helpful  in  dealing  with  that 
which  cannot  be  imaged  or  visualized.     When  Francis 
Galton  began  his  inquiries  into  the  power  pos- 
sessed by  different  minds  to  conceive  the  break- 
fast table,  to  recall  vividly  the  various  dishes  and  the 
way  in  which  they  are  placed  upon  the  table,  many  men 
of  scientific  habits  of  thought  declared  that  there  is  no 
such  human  faculty.     On  the  other  hand,  the  educational 
reformer  whose  early  training  did  not  make  him  familiar 


106          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

with  the  thought-processes  of  higher  mathematics  may 
honestly  declare  that   he   cannot  conceive  an  abstract 
number,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  can  have  no  ade- 
quate conception  of  the  value  of  the  higher  forms  of 
Higher      thinking  in  symbols.     Dr.  W.  T.  Harris  has 
forms  of     well  said  that  the  mind  can  think  ideas  which 
ng'     cannot  be  pictorially  conceived  or  made  to 
stand  before  the  mind  in  thought-images.     In  thinking 
this  class  of  ideas,  technical  terms  are  indispensable  as 
instruments  of  thought. 

The  value  of  technical  terms  as  instruments  of  thought 
is  seen  in  a  still  clearer  light  if  we  try  to  classify  the 
symbols  various  uses  of  the  signs  and  symbols  which 
classified.  are  employed  as  aids  in  thinking.  Many  of 
these  have  no  office  beyond  that  of  suggesting  the  things 
or  ideas  for  which  they  stand.  To  this  class  belong  the 
suggestive  marks  which  suggest  to  the  tramp  a  cross  dog 
symbols.  or  a  good  meal.  As  soon  as  he  has  seen 
them,  they  could  be  erased  ;  the  train  of  thought  which 
they  started  in  his  mind  can  go  on  without  them.  Of 
a  similar  character  are  the  devices  by  which  the  mer- 
chant marks  the  buying  and  the  selling  prices  of  goods, 
the  red  and  blue  lights  used  on  railways  and  ocean 
steamers,  the  secret  signs  and  signals  employed  by  the 
signal  corps  of  an  army,  and  the  steps,  grips,  signs, 
countersigns,  and  passwords  employed  by  secret  societies 
as  a  means  of  identification.  Very  many  of  the  artificial 
devices  used  in  systems  of  mnemonics  have  no  higher 
function  than  that  of  suggesting  what  otherwise  might 
be  forgotten. 

Very  different  are  the  signs  and  symbols  which  mathe- 
matics employs  as  substitutes  for  the  quantities  to  be 
symbols  as  considered.  In  adding  a  column  in  the  ledger 
substitutes.  Or  in  a  statistical  table  the  mind  thinks  the 
figures  without  reference  to  the  concrete  objects  which 


TECHNICAL    TERMS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.     1Q7 

they  denote.  In  the  solution  of  a  problem  in  algebra 
the  unknown  quantities  are  represented  by  symbols  like 
x  and  y,  the  known  quantities  by  the  first  letters  of 
the  alphabet  or  by  numerical  expressions ;  the  relations 
between  the  quantities  are  indicated  by  equations ; 
there  is  no  thought  of  the  quantities  themselves  while 
the  mind  is  engaged  in  manipulating  the  symbols 
according  to  well-defined  rules  of  operation,  and  only 
when  the  result  is  to  be  interpreted  do  the  quantities 
reappear  in  the  field  of  consciousness.  The  substitute 
symbol  is  a  device  for  temporarily  dropping  an  idea  until 
it  is  needed  for  interpretation  ;  the  suggestive  symbol  is 
a  means  of  bringing  an  idea  or  thought  into  the  domain 
of  consciousness.  The  latter  furnishes  or  recalls  mate- 
rial for  the  mind  to  act  upon ;  the  former  lightens  the 
burden  which  the  mind  would  otherwise  have  to  carry. 
The  arithmetical  solution  of  an  age  question  in  which 
the  mind  constantly  carries  the  thought  of  A's  age  and 
his  wife's  age  as  compared  with  the  algebraic  solution 
of  the  same  question  in  which  A  and  his  wife,  as  well  as 
their  ages,  sink  temporarily  out  of  sight,  shows  the  value 
of  substitute  signs  and  symbols  in  mathematical  think- 
ing, and  explains  why  algebraic  methods  are  so  far  supe- 
rior to  the  clumsy  and  involved  methods  of  arithmetical 
analysis. 

Different  from  either  of  these  is  the  class  of  symbols 
used  in  expressing  ideas.  This  class  includes  not  only 
the  words  of  written  and  spoken  language,  but  Expressive 
also  the  natural  signs  of  gesture  language  and  symbols. 
the  conventional  signs  of  manual  language  taught  to 
deaf  mutes.  The  language  is  full  of  faded  metaphors 
indicating  the  office  of  common  words.  They  are  said 
to  express  meaning,  to  convey  thought,  to  embody 
ideas,  to  enshrine  content.  They  may  be  likened  to 
window-panes  through  which  one  sees  what  is  back  of 


108          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

them.  Sometimes  the  window-panes,  like  spectacles 
when  first  worn,  attract  more  attention  from  the  person 
looking  than  the  objects  seen  through  them, — a  parallel 
to  what  occurs  when  the  articulate  speech,  or  its  rhetori- 
cal adornment,  attracts  more  attention  than  the  thought 
expressed.  But  if  that  which  is  seen  through  the  window- 
pane  is  on  the  order  of  a  Santa  Claus  loaded  with  toys 
and  Christmas-gifts,  then  no  notice  is  taken  of  the 
medium  through  which  the  object  is  seen.  Hence  the 
very  best  teaching — that  which  rivets  attention  upon  the 
thought  conveyed — always  fails  to  teach  the  spelling  of 
words  incidentally.  Furthermore,  the  instruction  which 
frequently  stops  to  draw  attention  to  the  grammar  of  the 
sentences,  the  spelling  of  the  words  or  their  mode  of 
utterance,  interferes  with  the  formation  of  logical  habits 
of  thinking  and  divests  the  words  of  their  function  as 
expressive  signs.  When  the  word  itself  becomes  an 
object  of  thought  the  mind  is  not  thinking  by  means  of 
that  word.  It  has  been  well  said  that  we  may  fail  to 
apprehend  the  meaning  of  what  a  person  is  saying 
because  the  tone  of  his  voice  arrests  our  attention 
through  its  resemblance  to  that  of  some  one  else  in 
whom  we  feel  an  interest ;  that  so  far  as  signs  thus 
attract  notice  on  their  own  account,  they  fail  to  fulfil 
their  function  as  a  means  of  attending  to  something 
other  than  themselves.  For  this  very  pertinent  observa- 
tion credit  is  due  to  Mr.  G.  F.  Stout,  who  ("Mind," 
Ixii.  page  18)  has  very  clearly  drawn  the  distinction 
between  the  three  classes  of  signs  or  symbols  used  as 
helps  in  thinking.  He  says, — 

"Suggestive  signs  serve  only  to  bring  something  to 

mind  ;  they  are  not  a  means  of  minding  it  when  once 

recalled.     An  expressive  sign,  on  the  contrary, 

G.  F.  Stout.     .  .  ,fo    '.  ,. 

is  a  means  of  attending  to  its  signification.  .  .  . 
Expressive  signs  differ  from  substitutes  in  a  manner 


TECHNICAL   TERMS  INSTRUMENTS  OF  THOUGHT.     1Q9 

exactly  the  inverse  of  that  in  which  they  differ  from 
suggestive  signs.  A  suggestive  sign  has  fulfilled  its 
purpose  and  becomes  of  no  further  avail  so  soon  as 
it  has  suggested  its  meaning.  A  substitute  sign  is  a 
counter  which  takes  the  place  of  its  meaning ;  so  long 
as  it  fulfils  its  representative  function  it  renders  useless 
all  reference  to  that  which  it  represents.  The  coun- 
ters are  manipulated  according  to  certain  rules  of  oper- 
ation until  a  certain  result  is  reached,  which  is  then 
interpreted.  The  operator  may  be  actually  unable  to 
interpret  the  intermediate  steps.  Algebraical  and  arith- 
metical symbols  are  to  a  great  extent  used  as  mere  sub- 
stitute signs.  The  same  is  true  of  the  symbols  employed 
in  formal  logic.  It  is  possible  to  use  signs  of  this  kind 
whenever  fixed  and  definite  rules  of  operation  can  be 
derived  from  the  nature  of  the  things  symbolized,  so  as 
to  be  applied  in  manipulating  the  signs  without  further 
reference  to  their  signification.  A  word  is  an  instrument 
for  thinking  about  the  meaning  which  it  expresses ;  a 
substitute  sign  is  a  means  of  not  thinking  about  the 
meaning  which  it  symbolizes." 

In  addition  to  these  three  purposes  the  technical  term 
may  serve  still  another  important  end.  It  helps  to  fix  the 
new  concept  or  notion  after  it  has  been  developed  Fixing 
by  skilful  instruction.  Its  association  therewith  concepts. 
makes  it  a  suggestive  sign  whenever  occasion  requires  the 
recurrence  of  the  concept  or  thought  for  which  it  stands. 
The  train  of  thought  is  facilitated  and  made  possible  by 
the  use  of  technical  terms  as  expressive  signs.  And  if  the 
idea  denoted  by  it  can  be  defined  accurately,  so  that  the 
definition  becomes  a  triumph  of  intellect,  or  if  it  can  be 
quantified,  so  as  to  become  a  unit  of  measure  like  the  volts, 
ohms,  amperes,  and  watts  in  applied  electricity,  the  tech- 
nical term  may  even  serve  a  purpose  analogous  to  the  sub- 
stitute signs  in  sciences  like  formal  logic  and  mathematics. 


HO          THINKING   AND  LEARNING   TO    THINK. 

The  foregoing  analysis  indicates  the  proper  method  of 
teaching  technical  terms.  First,  the  basal  concept 
Proper  use  s^ou^  be  carefully  developed  and  clearly  pre- 
of  techni-  sented ;  it  should  then  be  fixed  in  the  mind 
cai  terms,  ^y  association  with  the  corresponding  technical 
term ;  finally,  the  union  should  be  made  permanent  by 
frequently  causing  the  two  to  appear  together  in  the 
domain  of  thought,  by  treating  them  as  welcome  guests 
when  they  appear  together  in  the  citadel  of  mind. 
Divorce  of  one  from  the  other  should  be  as  impossible  as 
in  the  case  of  the  two  parties  to  a  suitable  marriage.  On 
the  fete  days  of  science  they  should  appear  together, 
each  suggesting  the  presence  of  the  other,  the  technical 
term  serving  as  a  helpmeet  to  the  idea,  and  as  its  repre- 
sentative when,  in  the  charmed  circle  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation, the  presence  of  the  idea  is  not  absolutely 
required.  Circumlocutions,  like  name-word  for  noun, 
quality- word  for  adjective,  and  relation- word  for  prepo- 
sition, may  be  helpful  in  presenting  the  idea  or  in  intro- 
ducing the  technical  term ;  they  may  be  tolerated,  like 
a  third  party  in  the  making  of  a  match  ;  but  when  the 
match  has  been  made,  and  the  wedding  has  been  sol- 
emnized, they  should  drop  out  of  sight  as  of  no  further 
use.  The  figure  of  speech  could  easily  be  pressed  too 
far ;  for  many  objects  known  to  science  have  a  common 
as  well  as  a  technical  designation.  Each  has  its  proper 
place  in  the  realm  of  thought, — the  common  name  in 
ordinary  conversation,  the  technical  term  when  scientific 
precision  is  required. 


VII 

THOUGHT   AND   LANGUAGE 


in 


It  seems  to  me  quite  certain  that  we  can  and  do  think  things 
without  thinking  of  any  sound  or  words.  Language  seems  to  me 
to  be  necessary  to  the  progress  of  thought,  but  not  at  all  necessary 
to  the  mere  act  of  thinking.  It  is  a  product  of  thought :  a  vehicle 
for  the  communication  of  it,  a  channel  for  the  conveyance  of  it, 
and  an  embodiment  which  is  essential  to  its  growth  and  continuity. 
But  it  seems  to  be  altogether  erroneous  to  represent  it  as  an  in- 
separable part  of  cogitation.  Donkeys  and  dogs  are  without  true 
thought,  not  because  they  are  speechless,  but  they  are  speechless 
because  they  have  no  abstract  ideas,  and  no  true  reasoning  powers. 
In  parrots  the  power  of  mere  articulation  exists  sometimes  in 
wonderful  perfection.  But  parrots  are  not  so  clever  as  many  other 
birds  which  have  no  such  power. 

Man's  vocal  organs  are  correlated  with  his  brain.  Both  are 
equally  mysterious,  because  they  are  co-operative,  and  yet  sepa- 
rable, parts  of  "one  plan." 

ARGYLL. 

That  the  language  may  be  fitted  for  its  purpose,  not  only  should 
every  word  perfectly  express  its  meaning,  but  there  should  be  no 
important  meaning  without  its  word.  Whatever  we  have  occasion 
to  think  of  often,  and  for  scientific  purposes,  ought  to  have  a  name 
appropriated  to  it. 

J.  S.  MILL. 


112 


VII 

THOUGHT  AND  LANGUAGE 

IN  the  development  of  intellectual  life  three  contin- 
gencies are  possible.  Three  pos- 

1.  The  growth  of  the  vocabulary  may  be    sibie  con- 
more  rapid  than  the  acquisition  of  ideas. 

2.  The  accumulation  and  development  of  ideas  may 
exceed  the  ability  to  express  them  in  language. 

3.  The  acquisition  of  ideas  and  words,  of  thought  and 
language,  may  be  simultaneous. 

"Without  doubt,   these  possibilities  in  mental  growth 
exist  for  wise  and  beneficent  purposes. 

The  tendency  to  acquire  words  without  the  correspond- 
ing ideas  is,  in  at  least  one  direction,  a  source  of  gain 
rather  than  loss.  The  pert  phrases,  profane  Words 
words,  and  other  objectionable  language  which  without 
the  child  accidentally  hears  from  the  lips  of 
older  persons,  and  at  times  uses  to  the  unspeakable 
annoyance  of  parents  and  teachers,  would  be  an  occasion 
for  far  more  serious  alarm  if  the  meaning  were  fully 
understood.  Were  it  a  law  of  our  mental  life  that  the 
hearing  and  learning  of  a  profane  or  obscene  word  neces- 
sarily carried  with  it  a  clear  grasp  of  the  meaning,  the 
resulting  harm  to  the  inner  life  of  the  soul  would  be  im- 
measurably greater,  and  the  stain  upon  the  character 
would  be  vastly  more  difficult  to  remove.  The  objection- 
able language  may  mirror  the  habits  of  thought  and 
speech  into  which  those  in  charge  of  the  child  have 
fallen,  awaken  in  them  a  new  sense  of  their  responsi- 

8  113 


114          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

bility,  and  cause  them  to  be  more  careful  of  what  they 
say ;  or  it  may  prove  an  index  to  the  kind  of  company 
into  which  the  child  is  drifting,  and  thus  serve  as  a 
danger-signal  to  parent  and  teacher.  When  the  mind 
has  not  learned  to  think  the  thought  expressed,  a  simple 
warning  against  the  use  of  such  ugly  words  generally 
suffices  to  eradicate  them  from  the  child's  vocabulary ; 
and  in  such  instances  it  is  a  blessing  in  disguise  that  the 
learning  of  the  words  was  not  accompanied  by  the  acqui- 
sition of  their  meaning.  The  loss  to  the  intellectual  life 
is  more  than  balanced  by  the  gain  in  moral  training. 

Is  thinking  possible  without  language  ?  If  by  language 
is  meant  oral  speech  and  written  words,  the  sign-language 
Thinking  °^  ^ea^  mutes  is  sufficient  to  compel  an  affirm- 
without  ative  answer  to  the  question.  Moreover,  there 
words.  are  mO(jes  Of  thinking  and  of  expressing  thought 
other  than  by  the  use  of  words.  Of  the  means  of  ex- 
pressing thought  without  words,  symbols  like  the  ten 
digits  and  the  sigma  of  the  new  psychology  are  well- 
known  examples.  The  player  in  a  game  of  chess,  cro- 
quet, or  billiards  thinks  movements  in  advance  of  making 
them,  and  generally  without  describing  the  same  in 
words.  The  drawings  and  plans  by  means  of  which  the 
architect  designs  a  new  building,  the  mental  images  of 
mechanical  contrivances  which  precede  the  invention  and 
construction  of  machines,  the  mental  pictures  used  in 
designing,  engineering,  and  sketching,  in  original  geo- 
logical thought,  prove  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
that  thinking  may  go  forward  without  words  and  sen- 
tences, and  may  find  expression  in  ways  better  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  the  artisan.  The  graphic  method  of  pre- 
senting to  the  eye  the  results  of  an  investigation  is  less 
cumbersome  than  any  description  in  words.  Some  men 
depend  so  much  upon  mental  pictures  in  their  thinking 
that  they  assert  they  cannot  think  at  all  without  them. 


THOUGHT  AND  LANGUAGE.  115 

In  some  kinds  of  gymnastic  drill  the  movement  is  de- 
scribed in  words,  then  conceived  by  the  mind,  and  finally 
executed.  This  exercise  has  a  different  educational  value 
from  the  exercise  in  which  the  student  simply  imitates 
the  movements  of  the  teacher,  the  latter  being  an  in- 
stance of  thinking  and  expressing  thought  without  the 
help  of  words.  The  speed  with  which  many  movements 
must  be  executed,  as  in  fencing,  legerdemain,  athletic 
sports,  the  manipulation  of  the  lever  in  the  hands  of  the 
engineer,  requires  thinking  without  the  intermediate 
agency  of  words  and  sentences.  The  time  it  takes  for 
an  idea  to  pass  into  words,  and  through  them  into 
actions,  is  measurably  greater  than  the  time  required  for 
the  direct  translation  of  thought  into  action.  Although 
the  difference  in  specific  instances  is  measured  by  the 
fraction  of  a  second,  it  would  involve  serious  loss  of  time 
as  well  as  energy  in  the  handicrafts  if  thoughts  could 
only  pass  into  action  through  speech  or  written  lan- 
guage. 

Some  persons  run  to  mouth ;  others  lack  in  this 
respect.  To  the  former  class  belong  those  whose  lips 
move  in  study  ;  those  who  talk  to  themselves ;  and  many 
whose  paucity  of  ideas  does  not  justify  their  superfluity 
superfluity  of  words.  Let  such  a  man  be  of  words. 
elected  as  a  delegate  to  a  synod  or  a  convention,  and  the 
sessions  will  be  prolonged  beyond  the  usual  time.  As  a 
rule,  the  energy  of  such  men  is  exhausted  in  speech ; 
they  are  not  noted  for  getting  things  done.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  men  of  great  executive  ability  are  often- 
times men  of  few  words ;  their  thought  is  Thought 
translated  into  doing  rather  than  talking.  The  and  action- 
man  of  deeds  is  always  estimated  above  the  man  of 
words,  the  general  above  the  orator,  Caesar  the  com- 
mander above  Caesar  the  orator.  Sometimes  the  men 
of  original  turn  of  mind  find  that  their  thinking  outstrips 


THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

their  power  to  express  thought.  Francis  Galton  says  of 
himself,  "It  is  a  serious  drawback  to  me  in  writing 
•  Francis  that  I  do  not  so  easily  think  in  words  as  other- 

Gaiton.  wise.  It  often  happens  that  after  being  hard 
at  work  and  having  arrived  at  results  that  are  perfectly 
clear  and  satisfactory  to  myself,  when  I  try  to  express 
them  in  language  I  feel  that  I  must  begin  by  putting 
myself  on  quite  a  different  intellectual  plane  ;  I  have  to 
translate  my  thoughts  into  a  language  that  does  not  run 
evenly  with  them.  I  therefore  waste  a  great  deal  of 
time  in  seeking  for  appropriate  words  and  phrases,  and 
am  conscious,  when  required  to  speak  on  a  sudden,  of 
being  often  obscure  through  mere  verbal  maladroitness, 
and  not  through  want  of  clearness  of  perception.  This 
is  one  of  the  small  annoyances  of  my  life.  I  may  add 
that  often  while  engaged  in  thinking  out  something  I 
hatch  an  accompaniment  of  nonsense- words,  just  as  notes 
of  a  song  might  accompany  the  thought.  Also,  that 
after  I  have  made  a  mental  step,  the  appropriate  word 
frequently  follows  as  an  echo ;  as  a  rule,  it  does  not  ac- 
company it." 

This  throws  a  new  light  upon  one  phase  of  school 
work.     The  boy  who  has  a  notion  of  the  content  of  a 

Knowing    lesson  sometimes  stops  in  the  midst  of  a  reci- 
and        tation  and,  without  premeditation,  exclaims, 

telling.      uj  know  it?  but  cannot  say  it."     The  teacher 

retorts,  "You  do  not  know  what  you  cannot  express." 
Both  are  right  and  both  are  wrong.  There  is,  probably,  a 
measure  of  truth  in  what  each  claims.  If  the  pupil  had 
mastered  the  text,  he  would  not  only  have  a  clear  idea 
of  the  lesson,  but  he  would  also  have  acquired  from  the 
book  or  from  the  teacher  the  words  to  express  the  idea. 
Nevertheless,  if  there  is  reason  for  thinking  that  the 
pupil  has  devoted  reasonable  time  to  the  lesson,  his  lin- 
guistic powers  should  be  developed  by  questions  and 


THOUGHT  AND  LANGUAGE.  117 

other  appropriate  help.  The  good  sense  and  native 
instincts  of  most  teachers  lead  them  to  give  this  help. 
The  teacher  whose  captious  disposition  issues  in  remarks 
calculated  to  repress  a  backward  pupil's  powers  of  expres- 
sion should  find  employment  outside  of  the  school-room. 

The  child  of  foreigners  may  outstrip  native  children 
and  astonish  the  school  by  unprecedented  progress  be- 
cause, being  already  familiar  with  the  ideas  of    Foreign- 
the  lesson,  it  is  compelled  simply  to  acquire  the       i*>rn 
language  by  which  the  ideas  are  expressed. 
By  reason  of  their  inability  at  first  to  tell  what  they 
know,  such  children  are  often  classified  with  those  less 
mature,  and  the  mastery  of  the  new  language  in  their  case 
is  not  as  difficult  as  the  mastery  of  new  ideas  for  which 
brain-growth  may  be  the  essential  condition.     To  ignore 
the  fact  that  such  children  often  know  more  than  they 
can  tell  is  pedagogic  folly  in  the  highest  degree. 

Courses  of  study  are  sometimes  mapped  out  so  as  to 
cause  inequality  in  the  pace  with  which  ideas  are  accu- 
mulated and  language  is  developed.  Undue  stress  on 
grammar,  rhetoric,  and  belles-lettres  may  cause  abnormal 
development  in  the  direction  of  flowery  language,  a 
verbose  style,  an  ornate  diction.  It  is  a  fault  difficult 
to  correct.  To  insist  that  such  a  student  shall  Language 
have  something  to  say,  to  force  him  into  studies  clarifies 
that  will  bring  him  face  to  face  with  great 
questions  as  yet  unsettled,  to  beget  in  him  a  state  of 
mind  in  which  he  is  troubled  with  ideas,  to  compel 
him  to  work  over  and  over  what  he  writes  until  his 
sentences  are  as  clear  as  crystals,  seems  necessary  to 
counteract  the  one-sided  development  of  such  students. 
The  curriculum  of  study  may  err  on  the  other  side.  The 
graduates  in  the  various  courses  of  engineering  (civil, 
electrical,  mechanical,  and  mining)  sometimes  develop 
technical,  to  the  neglect  of  linguistic,  skill.  In  the  pres- 


118          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ence  of  a  body  of  capitalists  they  are  made  deeply  con- 
scious of  the  difference  between  the  ability  to  think  and 
the  ability  to  express  thought.*  In  one  large  school  of 
technology  the  graduates  established  prizes  in  English 
composition  and  endowed  chairs  of  the  English  language 
and  literature,  so  that  future  students  might  acquire  the 
power  to  state  in  clear  and  intelligible  language  the  re- 
sults of  their  work  as  specialists.  In  no  long  time  it  was 
discovered  that  for  this  purpose  they  also  needed  train- 
ing in  an  art  similar  to  that  of  the  teacher, — namely,  the 
art  of  developing  the  ideas  and  thoughts  which  underlie 
and  condition  the  engineering  project  under  considera- 
tion. For  him  who  would  be  a  leader  among  men,  the 
ability  to  express  thought  is  quite  as  important  as  the 
ability  to  think.  Moreover,  there  is  a  vast  difference 
between  ability  to  express  thought  on  one's  feet  in  the 
presence  of  an  audience  and  ability  to  express  it  on 
paper  in  the  privacy  of  the  home.  J.  J.  Eousseau  and 
Washington  Irving  could  write  well,  but  neither  of  them 
could  make  a  speech.  Patrick  Henry's  eloquence 
before  an  audience  was  unsurpassed ;  he  never  could 
write  a  satisfactory  report.  Power  in  both  directions 
may  be  acquired  in  a  college  course  through  the  exer- 
cises of  a  good  debating  society.  The  student  who, 
during  four  years,  carefully  writes  out  his  thoughts,  then 
discards  his  manuscript  while  speaking,  and  studies  how 
he  can  best  convince  his  hearers  and  how  he  can  prune 

*Mr.  Smiles,  "Life  of  Stephenson,"  third  edition,  page  474,  tells 
how  George  Stephenson,  arguing  one  evening  on  the  coal  question 
with  Dr.  Buckland,  was  quite  unable  to  make  good  his  case.  The 
next  morning  he  talked  over  the  matter  with  Sir  W.  Follett,  and 
that  illustrious  advocate,  from  the  materials  supplied  by  the  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  Stephenson,  was  able  easily  to  discomfit  the 
learned  dean.  Quoted  by  A.  S.  Wilkins's  "Cicero  de  Oratore," 
page  105,  second  edition. 


THOUGHT  AND  LANGUAGE.  119 

himself  of  the  defects  pointed  out  by  the  merciless  criti- 
cism of  his  fellows,  can  feel  sure  of  ultimate  success. 
President  Barnard  says  of  one  of  our  largest  institutions 
that  half  its  glory  departed  when  its  literary  Literary 
societies  were  killed  through  the  influence  of  s0016^68- 
the  Greek  letter  fraternities.  A  public  speaker  who  is 
a  slave  to  his  manuscript  is  deserving  of  pity.  College 
authorities  may  well  exercise  their  ingenuity  in  finding 
a  substitute  for  the  drill  and  practice  which  the  literary 
societies  of  by-gone  days  afforded  in  learning  to  think 
and  to  express  thought  in  the  face  of  opposition,  criti- 
cism, and  other  unfavorable  conditions. 

Thought  and  language  exercise  a  reciprocal  influence. 
Thought  is  stimulated  and  clarified  by  the  effort  to  ex- 
press it.     Often  it  is  shaped  by  the  limitations  of  one's 
vocabulary  and  the  range  of  the  words  with  which  one's 
hearers  or  readers  are  familiar.    The  faded  metaphors  of 
language  betray  us  into  fallacies.     Phrases  like    Influence 
the  witness  of  the  spirit,  total  depravity,  have  of  language 
led  to  extravagant   expectations  and  unwar-     J**?n 
ranted  conclusions.     People  sometimes  have  a 
religious  phraseology  without  a  corresponding  religious 
experience,  and  hence  deceive  themselves  and  others. 
Everywhere  we  see  instances  that  go  to  show  how  impor- 
tant it  is  that  the  development  of  the  power  to  think 
should  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  power  to  express 
thought.     Very  much    is  said  in  these   days    Teaching 
about    the  use  of   good   English.     As  Adam     English. 
threw  the  blame  upon  Eve,  and  Eve  cast  it  upon  the 
Serpent,  so  every  one  blames  some  one  else  for  the  poor 
English  used  at  school  and  college.      In  the  end  the 
teachers  are  usually  made  to  bear  most  of  the  blame  :  the 
college  professor  blames  the  teachers  in  the  high  school ; 
tnese,  in  turn,  blame  the  teachers  in  the  lower  grades  ; 
and  when  the  matter  is  cast  up  to  the  primary  teacher, 


120  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

she  throws  the  blame  upon  the  street  and  the  home.  A 
professor  in  the  college  department  of  a  university  gave 
many  ludicrous  specimens  of  English  in  the  work  handed 
to  him  by  students.  He  was  asked  of  what  college  class 
he  had  charge,  and  when  he  replied  the  sophomore,  a 
high-school  teacher  suggested  that  the  specimens  reflected 
quite  as  much  upon  the  teachers  of  the  freshman  class 
as  upon  the  schools  below  the  university. 

A  women's  society  in  one  of  our  large  cities  sent  a 
committee  to  the  superintendent  to  complain  of  the 

The  poor  English  used  by  the  children  in  the 
committee,  schools.  He  agreed  that  strenuous  efforts 
should  be  made  to  provide  a  remedy.  He  added.  "If 
you  will  take  care  of  the  English  in  the  homes  and 
on  the  streets,  I  will  get  the  teachers  to  look  after  the 
English  in  the  schools."  Instead  of  throwing  blame 
upon  others,  it  were  far  more  sensible  for  each  educated 
person  to  ask  wherein  he  is  to  blame  for  setting  others 
a  bad  example  and  wherein  he  can  help  the  teachers  of 
English  to  accomplish  the  desired  result. 

The  aim  in  teaching  English  is  twofold, — first,  to  get 
the  student  to  appreciate  good  English  and  good  litera- 
ture ;  secondly,  to  get  him  to  use  it  in  speak- 
ing and  writing.  The  latter  end  cannot  be 
reached  by  mere  practice  in  essay-writing.  Ability  to 
think  is  a  condition  of  ability  to  express  thought.  Too 
many  of  the  subjects  assigned  lay  stress  upon  the  forms 
of  speech  and  not  upon  the  content  of  language.  When 
pupils  think  in  words  and  disconnected  phrases  rather 
than  sentences,  when  they  violate  the  rules  for  capitals, 
punctuation,  and  paragraphs,  the  teachers  of  English 
may  be  solely  to  blame ;  but,  in  so  far  as  the  use  of  good 
English  depends  upon  good  thinking,  the  blame  for  the 
use  of  faulty  language  rests  upon  all  who  teach.  If 
the  ability  to  think  is  not  developed  in  proportion  to  the 


THOUGHT  AND   LANGUAGE.  121 

use  of  language,  the  school  will  produce  stylists  who 
exalt  the  forms  of  speech  above  their  content,  slaves  of 
beautiful  and  flowery  language  who  resemble  the  fops 
and  dudes  of  social  life.  To  emancipate  from  such  slavery 
requires  more  than  an  emancipation  proclamation  from 
the  president  of  a  college  association. 

The  labors  of  the  brothers  Grim,  Max  Miiller,  and 
others  have  reduced  the  knowledge  of  language  to  a 
science.  Linguistic  studies  have  become  as  in-  Linguistic 
teresting  as  any  branch  of  natural  science,  studies. 
They  shed  new  light  upon  the  history  of  mankind.  In 
furnishing  material  for  thought,  as  well  as  mental  disci- 
pline, they  are  not  inferior  to  any  other  study  in  the  cur- 
riculum. It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  philological  studies  are  superior  to  other  disciplines 
as  means  for  developing  power  to  think  and  power  to  ex- 
press thought.  The  professor  of  any  language  is  apt  to 
regard  that  language  as  an  end,  and  not  as  means  to  an 
end.  Primarily,  language  is  a  medium  of  communica- 
tion. It  distinguishes  man  from  the  brute  creation,  and 
furnishes  him  the  instruments  of  thought  by  which  he 
carries  forward  processes  of  reasoning  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  lower  animals.  At  the  university  language  in 
general,  or  any  particular  language,  may  be  studied  as  a 
specialty,  and  can  thus  be  made  an  end  in  itself  as  appro- 
priately as  any  other  subject  which  is  studied  Lan  u 
for  its  own  sake.  In  the  lower  schools  language  tributary 
should  always  be  made  tributary  to  the  art  of  to 

thinking. 

thinking.  It  should  be  employed  to  embody 
thought,  and  to  convey  thought,  without  intruding  itself 
upon  our  attention  as  the  thing  of  chief  value.  Any 
phase  of  linguistic  study  may  be  lifted  by  an  enthusiastic 
teacher  into  the  chief  place  in  the  course  of  study.  Or- 
thography has  sometimes  been  taught  as  if  it  were  the 
chief  end  of  man  to  spell  correctly.  Grammar  has  been 


122          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

taught  as  if  a  faulty  sentence  were  one  of  the  sins  for- 
bidden by  the  Decalogue,  and  as  if  the  fate  of  the  repub- 
lic depended  upon  parsing,  analysis,  and  diagramming. 
The  pronunciation  of  words  may  be  emphasized  until  the 
lips  of  teacher  and  pupil  smack  of  an  overdose  of  dic- 
tionary, until  the  overdoing  of  obscure  vowels  draws 
attention  away  from  the  thought  to  the  manner  of  utter- 
ance. A  sensible  man  articulates  his  words  in  such  a 
manner  as  readily  to  be  understood,  but  never  in  such  a 
way  as  to  excite  remark  or  draw  the  mind  of  the  listener 
from  the  subject-matter  of  the  discourse. 

In  educational  practice,  the  manner  of  expressing  the 
thought  should  not  supplant  the  more  important  art  of 
making  the  pupil  think.  Getting  and  begetting  thought 
are  of  more  consequence  than  the  expression  of  thought ; 
in  fact,  they  condition  the  correct  use  of  language.  All 
talk  about  English,  or  German,  or  Spanish,  or  Latin,  or 
Greek,  as  if  any  one  of  these  languages  were  an  end 
in  itself  for  the  average  pupil,  is  wide  of  the  mark. 
Correct  sentences,  beautiful  expressions,  and  rhetorical 
phrases  can  never  make  a  nation  great  or  perpetuate  its 
free  institutions.  Flowery  language  can  never  save  a 
dying  sinner  or  console  the  widow  who  is  following  the 
bier  of  a  son,  her  only  child  and  support.  Fine  words 
never  win  a  battle  by  land  or  by  sea.  The  most  eloquent 
orations  against  Philip  of  Macedon  did  not  keep  him 
from  destroying  the  liberties  of  Greece. 

Correct  and  forceful  language  is  a  gift  to  be  coveted,  a 
prize  worth  striving  for  ;  but  it  should  never  be  made 
the  all-absorbing  aim  of  education.  The  teacher  of  any 
phase  of  language  must  for  a  time  make  his  instruction 
the  object  of  chief  concern  ;  but  he  should  never  ignore 
the  fact  that  language  is  and  ever  should  be  an  aid  to 
thought,  a  stimulus  to  thinking,  an  embodiment  of  ideas, 
a  medium  of  communication,  a  means  to  an  end. 


VIII 

THE   STIMULUS   TO   THINKING 


Good  methods  of  teaching  are  important,  but  they  cannot  supply 
the  want  of  ability  in  the  teacher.  The  Socratic  method  is  good  ; 
but  a  Socrates  behind  the  teacher's  desk  to  ask  questions  is  better. 

THOMAS  M.  BALLIET. 

Of  all  forms  of  friendship  in  youth,  by  far  the  most  effective  as 
a  means  of  education  is  that  species  of  enthusiastic  veneration 
which  young  men  of  loyal  and  well-conditioned  minds  are  apt  to 
contract  for  men  of  intellectual  eminence  in  their  own  circles. 
The  educating  effect  of  such  an  attachment  is  prodigious ;  and 
happy  the  youth  who  forms  one.  We  all  know  the  advice  given 
to  young  men  to  "think  for  themselves  ;"  and  there  is  sense  and 
soundness  in  the  advice ;  but  if  I  were  to  select  what  I  account 
perhaps  the  most  fortunate  thing  that  can  befall  a  young  man 
during  the  early  period  of  his  life, — the  most  fortunate,  too,  in  the 
end,  for  his  intellectual  independence, — it  would  be  his  being  vol- 
untarily subjected  for  a  time  to  some  powerful  intellectual  slavery. 

DAVID  MASSON. 


124 


WHILST  the  distinction  between  thinking  in  things 
and  thinking  in  symbols  should  never  be  ignored  or  lost 
sight  of  by  the  teacher,  it  need  not  be  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  learner, — at  least  not  in  the  elementary 
stages  of  instruction.  It  is  more  profitable  for  the  learner 
to  be  absorbed  in  gathering  the  materials  of  thought  and 
in  learning  by  practice  how  the  educated  man  uses  the 
instruments  of  thought  for  drawing  correct  conclusions 
by  the  most  effective  methods.  If  the  eye  of  conscious- 
ness is  turned  inward  upon  the  mental  processes  too 
early,  the  flow  of  thought  is  interrupted  and  turned  away 
from  its  logical  trend.  The  teacher,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  expected  to  watch  the  growth  of  the  mind,  to  awaken 
its  powers,  and  to  rouse  these  into  vigorous  activity.  It 
is  essential  not  merely  that  he  furnish  the  pupils  with 
the  proper  materials  and  the  best  instruments  Thought 
of  thought,  but  it  is  necessary  also  to  stimulate  stimulus. 
and  direct  their  thinking  "j  otherwise  that  which  is  given 
them  may  overload  the  memory,  lie  undigested  in  the 
mind,  exhaust  the  energy  of  the  intellect  in  the  effort 
at  retention,  and  ultimately  cause  mental  dyspepsia. 

Men  engaged  in  the  struggle  for  existence  or  prefer- 
ment usually  find  ample  stimulus  to  their  thinking  facul- 
ties in  the  competition  which  real  life  affords,     competi- 
If  the  merchant  does  not  think  accurately  and       tion- 
effectively,  the  consequences  make  themselves  visible  in 
his  bank-account.    The  desire  for  gain  is  the  stimulus 
to  thought  in  the  commercial  world.     An  appeal  to 
the  same  motive  is  often  made  through  the  offer  of 

125 


126  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

prizes  and  fellowships.  The  competition  of  maturer 
years  finds  an  adumbration  in  the  competition  for  class- 
standing  and  for  superiority  in  field  sports.  The  teacher 
who  employs  no  higher  stimulus  to  thought  must  be  a 
stranger  to  the  mysteries  of  the  art  which  he  professes  to 
practise.  The  best  device  for  stimulating  thought  has 
come  down  to  us  hallowed  by  the  ages.  It  bears  the 
name  of  the  greatest  teacher  of  ancient  Athens.  It 
socratic  is  the  question  as  employed  in  the  Socratic 
question,  method.  Not  every  question  is  the  Socratic 
question.  A  man  who  has  lost  his  way  may  ask  a  ques- 
tion, but  it  is  for  the  sake  of  getting  information.  The 
teacher  may  be  striving  to  fix  in  the  memory  the  salient 
points  of  the  lesson :  he  asks  questions,  the  answers  to 
which  the  pupils  are  expected  to  have  at  their  tongue' s 
or  fingers'  end.  A  question  thus  used  for  purposes  of 
drill  is  often  called  a  categorical  question.  It  is  not  the 
Socratic  question.  Yonder  sits  a  boy  who  for  half  an 
hour  has  been  wrestling  with  a  problem.  Unable  to  find 
a  clue  to  the  solution,  he  asks  the  teacher  for  help. 
Instead  of  telling  him  directly  what  he  wishes  to  know, 
the  Socrates  behind  the  teacher's  desk  asks  a  question 
which  causes  the  pupil  to  put  side  by  side  in  his  mind 
two  ideas  never  before  linked  together  in  his  thought. 
Upon  the  learner's  face  is  seen  an  expression  as  if  light 
had  broken  in  from  on  high.  He  goes  back  to  his  seat, 
and  ere  five  minutes  have  elapsed  he  is  rejoicing  in  the 
glory  of  a  triumph.  The  teacher  did  not  do  the  pupil's 
thinking  ;  he  simply  asked  the  Socratic  question,  which 
aims  to  make  the  pupil  think  for  himself. 

This  stimulus  to  thought  is  employed  by  every  master 
in  the  art  of  teaching.  The  question  may  be  used  to 
badger  and  confuse  a  pupil,  especially  if  the  teacher  is  not 
fully  acquainted  with  the  ideas  and  thoughts  already  in 
the  learner's  mind.  To  cause  each  pupil  to  place  side 


THE  STIMULUS  TO   THINKING.  127 

by  side  in  his  mind  ideas  and  concepts  whose  relation  he 
had  not  before  perceived,  it  is  necessary  that  the  teacher 
be  familiar  with  the  intellectual  storehouse  of  every 
member  of  the  class.  At  this  point  the  substi-  substitute 
tutes  who  occasionally  supply  the  places  of  teachers. 
regular  teachers  are  at  a  serious  disadvantage.  Not 
knowing  what  the  pupils  have  mastered,  they  must  often 
waste  time  in  finding  out  where  the  new  should  be 
linked  to  the  old,  and  where  it  is  necessary  to  clarify  and 
develop  ideas  with  which  the  members  of  the  class  are 
only  partially  familiar.  Often  these  lose  interest  in  the 
recitation  while  the  new  teacher  quizzes  them  on  things 
that  have  grown  stale  by  repetition . 

Back  of  the  Socratic  method  must  be  a  Socrates  to 
ask  the  questions.  x.  Education  results  not  from  highly 
differentiated  methods,  but  primarily  .from  the  play  of 
mind  upon  mind,  heart  upon  heart,  will  upon  will.  In 
the  difficult  art  of  making  others  think  the  most  impor- 
tant factor  is  the  teacher  himself.  Thinking  begets 
thinking.  In  this  connection  one  cannot  forbear  con- 
trasting the  living  teacher  with  other  educa-  The  living 
tional  forces.  Treatises  on  education  are  in  teacher. 
the  habit  of  printing  nature  with  a  capital  letter, 
whilst  words  like  teacher,  humanity,  unless  they  stand 
at  the  beginning  of  the  sentence,  begin  with  a  small 
letter.  Are  lifeless  rocks,  dead  leaves,  stuffed  birds,  and 
transfixed  bugs  more  potent  in  begetting  thought  than 
the  teacher  himself?  If  nature  were  such  a  wonderful 
teacher,  then  the  savage,  who  is  in  daily  contact  with 
nature,  and  who  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the  artificial 
life  of  our  great  cities  and  great  seats  of  learning,  should 
be  the  best  thinker.  A  teacher  whose  power  to  stimu- 
late thought  is  not  superior  to  dead  leaves  and  bugs  and 
butterflies  must  have  reached  the  dead  line.  Teachers 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes, — those  who  have  ceased 


128  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

to  grow  and  those  who  are  still  alive  and  growing. 
"Under  the  tuition  of  the  former  the  boy  soon  loses 
The  dead  interest  in  study,  and  seldom  acquires  the 
line.  power  to  think.  From  a  dead  tree  you  cannot 
propagate  life.  Ingraft  a  lifeless  teacher  upon  the  school ; 
the  most  skilful  devices  of  school  management  and  reci- 
tation serve  only  to  intensify  the  dull  routine,  the  mechan- 
ical iteration  and  repetition  which  Bishop  Spalding  de- 
clares to  be  the  most  radical  defect  in  our  systems  of 
education.  It  takes  life  to  beget  life.  J  A  growing  mind 
is  required  to  beget  growth  in  other  minds.  A  good 
thinker  begets  habits  of  close  and  careful  thinking  in  those 
whom  he  moulds.  Some~minds  are  more  gifted  in  this 
respect  than  others.  Without  doubt  the  reader  can  recall 
Knowledge  *ne  difference  between  knowledge  and  teaching 
and  teach-  power  which  he  felt  while  under  several  instruc- 
ing  power.  torg  &1.  tlie  game  time  prom  foose  gifted  with 

stimulating  power  he  came  away  with  a  mind  full  of  inter- 
rogation points,  and  with  the  attention  riveted  upon  prob- 
lems calling  for  investigation.  Under  their  tuition  the 
commonest  things  acquired  new  interest  and  became  food 
for  thought.  The  thinking  seemed  to  spring  out  of  that 
upon  which  the  mind  was  feeding.  Without  the  stimu- 
lating influence  which  comes  from  a  live  teacher,  con- 
tact with  nature,  access  to  libraries  and  laboratories, 
may  amount  to  very  little.  The  chief  trouble  in  our 
schools  is  not  that  the  courses  of  study  are  too  crowded, 
but  the  teachers  are  too  empty.  There  is  not  enough 
fuel  in  their  minds  to  keep  alive  the  glow  of  thought. 
The  course  -A-  course  of  study  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful 
of  study,  instructor  is  like  a  good  bill  of  fare  under 
the  direction  of  a  skilful  caterer.  The  latter  does  not 
expect  every  guest  to  eat  his  way  through  the  entire  bill 
of  fare ;  he  so  manages  the  succession  of  dishes  as  to 
stimulate  the  appetite  to  the  end  of  the  feast ;  he  sends 


THE  STIMULUS   TO    THINKING.  129 

the  guests  away  without  the  feeling  of  satiety, — in 
fact,  anxious  for  the  next  banquet.  '  The  wise  teacher 
does  not  expect  the  pupils  to  assimilate  everything  in 
the  course  of  study ;  he  aims  so  to  feed  and  stimulate 
their  minds  that  they  find  genuine  pleasure  in  thinking, 
and  go  away  from  him  with  a  desire  not  only  for  more 
knowledge,  but  also  for  things  that  give  suitable  ex- 
ercise to  the  reflective  powers.  /Watch  a  boy  at  work 
upon  a  puzzle,  and  you  will  be  convinced  that  he  finds 
genuine  delight  in  thinking  that  which  is 

4 e  Difficulties. 

difficult.  I  The  most  popular  teachers  are  not 
they  who  smooth  away  every  difficulty  in  the  pathway 
of  the  student,  but  they  who  stimulate  his  thinking  and 
help  him  to  a  sense  of  mastery  over  intellectual  diffi- 
culties. The  quickening,  stimulative  influence  of  the 
Socratic  question  lies  in  its  content  rather  than  its  form  ; 
and  both  form  and  content  derive  their  vivifying  power 
from  the  personality  of  the  teacher. 

The  stimulating  influences  which  go  forth  from  a  live 
teacher  are  partly  conscious  and  partly  uncon- 
scious.     The   latter    are    the    more   effective, 
Minds  gifted  with    quickening    power  create      scions 
about  themselves   an    intellectual  atmosphere   1 
that  is  like  the  invigorating  atmosphere  of  the  mountains 
or  the  tonic  breezes  which  blow  from  the  sea.     The  woman 
who  touched  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment  felt  at 
once  the  vivifying  influences  which  were  all   the  time 
going  forth  from  the  Great  Teacher.     Here  we  stand  face 
to  face  with  the  greatest  mystery  of  the  teacher's  art. 

Some  light  is  shed  upon  the  mystery  by  the  intimate 
relation  which  exists  between  the  conscious  and  the  sub- 
conscious life  of  the  soul.  The  ideas  upon  any  subject 
which  the  individual  cherishes  during  his  conscious 
moments,  the  train  of  logical  thinking  which  he  pursues 
when  the  will  gives  direction  to  reflection,  the  creative 

9 


130  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

effort  which  he  seeks  to  put  forth  in  a  given  direction,— 

these  shape  the  activities  which  go  forward  in  the  depths 

of   the  soul    when    perhaps    the  attention  is 

The   heart. 

directed  to  the  discharge  of  routine  duties. 
"Out  of  the  heart  are  the  issues  of  life."  "Out  of  the 
fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh."  From  the. 
treasure-house  of  the  heart  come  welling  up  thoughts, 
ideas,  sentiments,  and  purposes  which  largely  determine 
the  influence  exerted  upon  others  when  the  individual  is 
not  aware  of  it.  The  teacher  must  make  himself  what 
he  wishes  his  pupil  to  be.  If  foot-ball  and  base-ball 
and  boating  form  the  staple  of  his  thinking,  the  centre 
of  his  affections,  these  athletic  sports,  in  ways  that  are 
marvellous  and  often  past  finding  out,  become  the  objects 
of  thought  in  which  his  students  will  delight.  If  the 
truths  and  principles  of  science  absorb  his  interest  and 
engage  the  best  thought  of  his  conscious  hours,  these 
will  determine  the  moulding  influence  which  he  will 
unconsciously  exert  upon  others.  If  he  delights  in  germ- 
ideas,  in  seed-thoughts,  these  will  emanate  from  him 
whenever  he  is  thrown  into  contact  with  inquiring 
minds.  Much,  of  course,  is  due  to  native  ability,  to  in- 
herited qualities.  The  circle  of  minds  which  one  teacher 
can  reach  is  further  limited  by  the  breadth  or  narrow- 
ness of  his  views,  by  the  points  which  he  has  in  common 
with  others,  by  the  amount  of  sympathetic  interest  which 
he  manifests  in  their  progress  and  welfare,  by  the  sum 
total  of  the  characteristics  of  generic  humanity  which  he 
has  taken  up  into  himself.  In  other  words,  his  stimu- 
lating power  depends  upon  the  extent  to  which  his  inner 
life  is  representative  of  the  best  thought  and  the  best 
traits  of  the  age  in  which  he  lives  and  of  the  people  to 
whom  he  belongs. 

A  teacher  may  destroy  his  power  to  awaken  and  stimu- 
late thought  by  developing  every  subject    in    all    its 


THE  STIMULUS   TO   THINKING.  \^\ 

bearings  to  its  logical  or  final  conclusion.  He  should 
send  his  classes  away  from  the  daily  lecture  or  recitation 
to  the  library  or  the  laboratory,  to  the  study,  Exhaustive 
the  shop,  or  the  field,  with  the  sense  of  some-  treatment. 
thing  to  be  achieved,  with  the  feeling  that  there  are 
fields  of  research  for  them  to  explore,  fields  that  will 
amply  repay  careful  study,  investigation,  and  reflection. 
There  is  nothing  that  tires  a  boy  so  soon  as  the  feeling 
that  there  is  nothing  for  him  to  do,  nothing  that  he  can 
master,  achieve,  or  conquer  on  his  own  account.  The 
normal  child  is  so  constituted  that  it  loves  activity,  looks 
into  the  future,  and  regards  itself  as  an  important  factor 
in  the  world's  life.  The  advance  from  childhood  to 
youth  is  marked  by  a  transition  into  the  period 
that  is  brimful  of  hope  and  ambition.  The 
pampered  son  of  a  rich  man  may  feel  no  longing  of  this 
sort ;  his  opportunities  for  early  travel  and  premature  in- 
dulgence in  every  whim  may  have  brought  him  to  the 
point  where  the  whole  world  seems  like  a  sucked  orange 
for  which  one  has  no  further  use.  Unless  the  rich  father 
and  mother  possess  an  extraordinary  amount  of  good 
sense,  their  children  do  not  have  an  even  chance  with  the 
children  of  the  middle  classes  whose  outlook  upon  life 
supplies  abundant  motives  for  study  and  exertion. 

If  a  boy  has  not  made  a  mistake  in  selecting  his 
parents,  if  the  atmosphere  of  the  home  in  which  his  first 
six  years  are  spent  is  normal,  he  comes  to  school  with  a 
sense  of  something  to  be  achieved.  Should  this  feeling 
be  lacking,  the  true  teacher  will  aim  to  beget  it  by  the 
instruction  he  gives  and  by  appeals  to  the  innate  desire 
for  knowledge.  As  the  intelligence  dawns,  the  inter- 
rogation points  on  the  boy's  face  multiply  ;  his  appetite 
for  knowledge  grows  by  what  it  feeds  on.  If  the  branches 
of  study  do  not  become  more  interesting  than  any  occu- 
pation by  which  the  boy  can  earn  coppers,  there  is  some- 


132  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

thing  wrong  either  with  the  boy  or  his  teacher,  of  with 
both.  In  the  ascent  of  the  hill  of  science  every  step 
upward  widens  the  horizon,  increases  the  field  of  vision, 
and  stimulates  to  new  effort.  -  Every  field  explored 
The  flew  of  beckons  to  new  fields  of  investigation.  It  is 

vision,  the  prerogative  of  the  teacher  to  point  out 
what  is  in  store  for  the  aspiring  youth.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  domain  of  pure  mathematics.  A  pupil  had 
learned  in  his  geometry  that  parallel  lines  never  meet. 
The  teacher  told  him  that  his  geometrical  studies  would 
after  a  while  acquaint  him  with  lines  that  a're  not  parallel 
and  yet  never  meet.  No  sooner  had  he  met  lines  of  this 
kind,  situated  in  different  planes,  than  his  teacher  told  him 
of  lines  that  continually  approach  but  never  meet.  The 
appeal  to  his  curiosity  helped  to  stimulate  the  desire 
for  knowledge  and  kept  him  thinking  earnestly  and 
seriously  until  he  met  the  asymptote  and  its  curve.  The 
study  of  asymptotes  soon  grew  more  interesting  than  chess 
or  any  sports  upon  the  athletic  field. 

The  aim  of  the  teacher  should  be  to  make  himself  use- 
less. In  other  words,  the  school  should  aim  to  lift  the 
pupil  to  the  plane  of  an  independent  thinker,  capable  of 
giving  conscious  direction  to  his  intellectual  life  and  of 
concentrating  all  his  powers  upon  anything  that  is  to  be 
mastered.  It  is  to  be  reckoned  a  piece  of  good  fortune 
for  a  bright  and  talented  youth  to  fall  under  the  domi- 
nating influence  of  a  master  mind.  In  endeavoring  to 

Master      walk  in  the  footsteps  of  an  intellectual  giant,  to 

minds,  comprehend  his  theories  and  speculations,  and 
to  carry  the  burden  of  his  thoughts,  unexpected  strength 
and  power  are  developed,  and  when  the  day  of  emanci- 
pation comes — as  it  always  does  come  in  the  case  of 
gifted  youth — the  learner  will  find  that  he  has  entered  a 
higher  sphere  of  intellectual  activity,  and  will  hence- 
forth rank  among  the  world's  productive  thinkers. 


THE  STIMULUS   TO   THINKING.  133 

As  was  said  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  the 
competition  of  men  in  mature  life  is  usually  sufficient 
to  stimulate  their  thinking.  The  men  whose  duties  make 
a  constant  drain  upon  their  productivity  need  other 
forms  of  thought-stimulation.  Reference  is  not  here 
made  to  the  narcotics,  alcoholic  stimulants,  False 
and  other  drugs  which  brain-workers  use  in  stimulants. 
periods  of  reaction  and  fatigue :  these  stimulate  only 
for  a  short  time,  and  leave  the  nervous  system  and 
the  brain  weaker  than  before ;  they  shorten  life  by  burn- 
ing the  candle  at  both  ends ;  they  cannot  supply  the 
need  of  sleep,  rest,  and  recreation.  To  take  rational 
exercise,  to  eat  proper  food,  and  to  obey  all  the  laws  of 
health  is  the  sacred  duty  of  every  person  who  teaches 
by  word  of  mouth  or  pen.  Every  effort  should  be  made 
to  keep  vitality  at  its  maximum.  Often  the  mind  re- 
sembles the  soil  which  yields  a  richer  harvest  if  per- 
mitted to  lie  fallow  for  a  time.  If  at  the  close  of  a  period 
of  rest  or  a  summer  vacation  the  mind  refuses  Mental 
to  work,  what  shall  then  be  done  to  stimulate  lethargy. 
mental  activity?  Different  men  derive  stimulus  from 
different  sources.  One  finds  help  from  taking  a  pen 
in  hand,  another  by  facing  a  sea  of  upturned  faces. 
A  clergyman  of  considerable  repute  uses  an  Indian 
story  to  start  his  mental  machinery.  Henry  "Ward 
Beecher  declared  that  the  greatest  kindness  which  could 
be  shown  him  was  to  oppose  his  public  utterances. 
Opposition  roused  all  his  powers  and  helped  him  to 
think  vigorously  and  to  the  best  advantage.  Schiller  is 
said  to  have  kept  rotten  apples  in  his  desk,  because  he 
believed  that  the  odor  stimulated  his  mind.  Some  men 
find  help  in  solitude,  from  the  singing  of  birds,  from  the 
sound  of  rustling  leaves  and  falling  waters,  from  the 
noise  of  ocean  waves,  or  from  the  glimpse  of  distant 
waters  or  far-off  mountains.  An  eminent  theologian  is 


]34  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

stimulated  by  the  playing  of  a  piano  in  the  next  room. 
The  stimulus  from  books  is  reserved  for  discussion  in  a 
separate  chapter  on  the  Eight  Use  of  Books. 

As  there  are  helps,  so  there  are  hinderances  to  good 
thinking.  Petty  cares,  executive  duties,  noises  in  the 
Hin-  same  room,  or  in  the  next  room,  or  upon  the 
derances.  street,  are  well-known  examples.  Their  name 
is  legion,  and  their  cost  is  enormous  if  they  come 
from  manufacturing  establishments  near  the  school.  A 
word  about  the  extra-mural  music  which  emanates  from 
vile  machinery  on  the  streets  is  not  out  of  place  in  this 
connection.  An  English  writer  asserts  that  the  organ- 
grinders  of  London  have  done  more  in  the  last  twenty 
years  to  detract  from  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the 
higher  mental  work  of  the  nation  than  any  two  or  three 
colleges  at  Oxford  have  effected  to  increase  it.  A  mathe- 
matician estimates  the  cost  of  the  increased  mental  labor 
these  street- musicians  have  imposed  upon  him  and  his 
clerks  at  several  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  first-class 
work,  for  which  the  government  actually  paid  in  added 
length  of  the  time  needed  for  his  calculations. 

In  matters  of  this  kind  every  man  must  be  a  law  unto 
himself.  Since  no  two  human  beings  are  exactly  alike, 
but  each  is  a  new  creation  fresh  from  the  hands  of  the 
Creator,  it  follows  that  each  person  ihust  study  his  own 
peculiarities,  form  his  own  habits  of  work,  and  acquire 
the  power  to  think  in  the  midst  of  the  circumstances  in 
which  he  is  placed.  By  resolute  effort  the  mind  can 
ignore  many  a  hinderance  and  distraction.  The  best 
Our  fellow-  stimulus  from  without  comes  from  our  fellow- 
men,  men.  "Our  minds  need  the  stimulus  of  other 
minds,  as  our  lungs  need  oxygen  to  perform  their  func- 
tions." At  school  the  stimulus  comes  from  classmates, 
from  those  in  the  higher  and  lower  classes,  but  above  all 
else,  from  the  best  books  and  the  best  teachers.  In  the 


THE  STIMULUS   TO    THINKING.  135 

life  beyond  the  school  the  stimulus  comes  from  the  daily 
contact  and  competition  with  others,  from  conversation 
and  discussions  with  those  who  think,  from  communion 
with  the  best  books,  with  nature,  and  with  nature's  God. 
After  the  powers  of  the  mind  have  been  awakened 
and  disciplined,  stimulus  and  inspiration  may  come 
from  ten  thousand  sources.  Silence  and  soli-  sources  of 
tude,  city  and  country,  business  and  pleasure,  stimulus. 
observation  and  travel,  observatories  and  laboratories, 
libraries  and  museums,  nature  and  art,  poetry  and  prose, 
fiction  and  history,  may  each  in  turn  serve  as  a  spur  to 
creative,  inventive,  and  productive  thinking,  as  an  in- 
centive to  original  research,  fruitful  investigation,  and 
profitable  reasoning.  Among  all  the  sources  of  stimula- 
tion, the  good  teacher  and  the  good  book  take  superlative 
rank. 


IX 

THE   RIGHT   USE   OF   BOOKS 


187 


Even  the  very  greatest  of  authors  are  indebted  to  miscellaneous 
reading,  often  in  several  different  languages,  for  the  suggestion  of 
their  most  original  works,  and  for  the  light  which  has  kindled 

many  a  shining  thought  of  their  own. 

HAMERTON. 

He  reads  a  book  most  wisely  who  thinks  everything  into  a  book 
that  it  is  capable  of  holding,  and  it  is  the  stamp  and  token  of  a 
great  book  so  to  incorporate  itself  with  our  own  being,  so  to 
quicken  our  insight  and  stimulate  our  thought,  as  to  make  us  feel  as 
if  we  helped  to  create  it  while  we  read.  Whatever  we  can  find  in 
a  book  that  aids  us  in  the  conduct  of  life,  or  to  a  truer  interpreta- 
tion of  it,  or  to  a  franker  reconcilement  with  it,  we  may  with  a 
good  conscience  believe  is  not  there  by  accident,  but  that  the 

author  meant  we  should  find  it  there. 

LOWELL. 

Much  as  a  man  gains  from  actual  conflict  with  living  minds,  he 
may  gain  much  even  of  the  same  kind  of  knowledge,  though 
different  in  detail,  from  the  accumulated  thinking  of  the  past.  No 
living  generation  can  outweigh  all  the  past.  If  books  without  ex- 
perience in  real  life  cannot  develop  a  man  all  round,  neither  can 
life  without  books  do  it.  There  is  a  certain  dignity  of  culture 
which  lives  only  in  the  atmosphere  of  libraries.  There  is  a  breadth 
and  a  genuineness  of  self-knowledge  which  one  gets  from  the  silent 
friendship  of  great  authors  without  which  the  best  work  that  is  in 
a  man  cannot  come  out  of  him  in  large  professional  successes. 

PHELPS. 

The  fgreat  secret  of  reading  consists  in  this, — that  it  does  not 
matter  so  much  what  we  read  or  how  we  read  it  as  what  we  think 
and  how  we  think  it.  Reading  is  only  the  fuel ;  and,  the  mind 
once  on  fire,  any  and  all  material  will,  feed  the  flame,  provided 
only  it  have  any  combustible  matter  in  it.  And  we  cannot  tell 
from  what  quarter  the  next  material  will  come.  The  thought  we 
need,  the  facts  we  are  in  search  of,  may  make  their  appearance  in 
the  corner  of  the  newspaper,  or  in  some  forgotten  volume  long  ago 
consigned  to  dust  and  oblivion.  Hawthorne  in  the  parlor  of  a 
country  inn  on  a  rainy  day  could  find  mental  nutriment  in  an  old 
directory.  That  accomplished  philologist,  the  late  Lord  Strang- 
ford,  could  find  ample  amusement  for  an  hour's  delay  at  a  railway 
station  in  tracing  out  the  etymology  of  the  names  in  Bradshaw. 
The  mind  that  is  not  awake  and  alive  will  find  a  library  a  barren 
wilderness. 

CHARLES  F.  RICHARDSON. 
138 


IX 

THE   RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS 

A  CLERGYMAN  who  found  the  reaction  from  his  pulpit 
efforts  so  great  that  often  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
think  vigorously  and  consecutively  before  the 
middle  of  the  following  week  was  advised  by 
his  physician  to  try  the  effect  of  an  Indian  tale  or  an  ex- 
citing story,  and  found  that  a  good  novel  works  like  a 
charm  in  bringing  the  mind  back  to  normal  action. 
After  the  interest  in  the  story  or  novel  begins  to  grow 
there  is  danger  of  reading  too  long,  of  reading  until  an- 
other spell  of  fatigue  and  reaction  comes.  The  book 
should  be  laid  aside  as  soon  as  the  first  glow  of  mental 
action  is  felt. 

Most  thinkers  need  the  stimulating  influence  of  other 
minds.  These  can  be  found  at  their  best  upon  the  shelves 
of  a  well-selected  library.  They  are  ready  to 
help  us  whenever  we  feel  ready  to  give  them 
our  attention.  Men  put  the  best  part  of  themselves  into 
their  books.  The  process  of  writing  for  print  intensifies 
mental  activity,  spurs  the  intellect  to  the  keenest,  most 
vigorous  effort,  and  arouses  the  highest  energy  of  thought 
and  feeling.  Authors  that  exert  a  quickening  influence 
upon  our  thinking  should  be  kept  for  use  whenever  we 
need  a  stimulus  to  rouse  the  mind  from  its  lethargy. 

Leibnitz  got  his  best  ideas  while  reading  books.  He 
had  acquired  the  habits  of  a  librarian  to  whom  favorite 
volumes  are  always  accessible. 

A  scientist  of  repute  says  he  gets  the  necessary  stimu- 

139 


140  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

lus  from  Jevons's  treatise  on  the  inductive  sciences.    Pro- 
fessor Phelps  lias  collected  an  instructive  list  of  authors 
AS  stimu-    whose  writings  have  been  helpful  to  other  au- 
lus         thors  of  note.     He  says,— 

' '  Voltaire  used  to  read  Massillon  as  a  stimulus  to  pro- 
duction.    Bossuet  read  Homer  for  the  same  purpose. 
Gray  read  Spenser's  '  Faerie  Queene'  as  the  pre- 

Examples. 

liminary  to  the  use  of  his  pen.  The  favorites 
of  Milton  were  Homer  and  Euripides.  F6nelon  resorted 
to  the  ancient  classics  promiscuously.  Pope  read  Dryden 
as  his  habitual  aid  to  composing.  Corneille  read  Tacitus 
and  Livy.  Clarendon  did  the  same.  Sir  "William 
Jones,  on  his  passage  to  India,  planned  five  different 
volumes,  and  assigned  to  each  the  author  he  resolved  to 
read  as  a  guide  and  awakener  to  his  own  mind  for  its 
work.  Buffon  made  the  same  use  of  the  works  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton.  With  great  variety  of  tastes  successful 
authors  have  generally  agreed  in  availing  themselves  of 
this  natural  and  facile  method  of  educating  their  minds 
to  the  work  of  original  creation."  * 

The  most  valuable  function  of  standard  authors  lies  in 
their  quickening  influence  upon  the  intellectual  life. 
The  effort  to  appropriate  their  ideas  and  to  master  their 
thoughts  is  the  best  possible  exercise  for  the  understand- 
ing. In  thinking  their  thoughts,  weighing  their  argu- 
ments, and  following  their  train  of  reasoning  the  mind 
gains  vigor,  strength,  and  the  capacity  for  sustained 
effort.  The  invigorating  atmosphere  which  a  great 

Great  thinker  creates  has  a  most  remarkable  tonic 
thinkers.  effect  upon  all  who  dwell  in  it.  By  unconscious 
absorption  they  acquire  his  spirit  of  inquiry,  his  methods 
of  research,  his  habits  of  investigation,  his  way  of  attack- 
ing and  mastering  difficulties.  "While  trying  to  walk  in 

*  Phelps' s  "  Men  and  Books,"  page  303. 


THE  RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS. 

his  footsteps  they  learn  to  take  giant  strides.  His  idioms, 
his  choice  of  words,  his  favorite  phrases  and  expressions 
are  at  their  service  when  they  enter  new  fields  of  truth. 
Both  in  power  and  aspiration  they  become  like  him 
through  the  mysterious  process  of  mind  acting  upon 
mind,  of  heart  evoking  heart,  and  of  will  transfusing 
itself  into  will.  A  great  thinker  gets  his  place  in  the 
galaxy  of  shining  intellects  through  the  truths  which  he 
communicates ;  and  as  truth  is  the  best  food  for  the  soul, 
so  the  quest  of  truth  is  the  best  exercise  for  all  its  faculties. 
'  De  Quincey,  in  his  essay  on  Alexander  Pope,  draws  an 
important  and  oft-quoted  distinction  between  the  litera- 
ture of  knowledge  and  the  literature  of  power,  i^e  litera_ 
He  says  the  function  of  the  one  is  to  teach,  of 
the  other  to  move.  The  former  he  likens  to  a 
rudder,  the  latter  to  an  oar  or  a  sail.  To  illus-  literature 
trate  the  difference  he  asks,  "What  do  you 
learn  from  'Paradise  Lost'?  Nothing  at  all.  What  do 
you  learn  from  a  cookery-book  ?  Something  new,  some- 
thing that  you  did  not  know  before,  in  every  paragraph. 
But  would  you,  therefore,  put  the  wretched  cookery-book 
on  a  higher  level  of  estimation  than  the  divine  poem? 
What  you  owe  to  Milton  is  not  any  knowledge,  of  which 
a  million  separate  items  are  still  but  a  million  of  ad- 
vancing steps  on  the  same  earthly  level ;  what  you  owe  is 
power, — that  is,  exercise  and  expansion  to  your  own 
latent  capacity  of  sympathy  with  the  infinite,  where 
every  pulse  and  each  separate  influx  is  a  step  upward, 
a  step  ascending,  as  upon  Jacob's  ladder,  from  earth  to 
mysterious  altitudes  above  the  earth.  All  the  steps  of 
knowledge,  from  first  to  last,  carry  you  farther  on  the 
same  plane,  but  could  never  raise  you  one  foot  above 
your,  ancient  level  of  earth  ;  whereas,  the  very  first  step 
in  power  is  a  flight,  is  an  ascending  into  another  element 
where  earth  is  forgotten." 


142  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

The  value  of  the  literature  of  power  as  a  means  of  im- 
parting power  to  every  soul  that  lives  under  its  influence 
is  easily  seen  and  generally  acknowledged.  But  the 
literature  of  knowledge  serves  the  double  purpose  of 
furnishing  us  material  for  thought  and  of  acting  as  a 
stimulus  to  thought.  On  this  point  we  have  the  testi- 
mony of  the  wisest  who  have  ventured  to  give  advice 
upon  the  use  of  books.  Lowell  says,  "It  is  certainly 
true  that  the  material  of  thought  reacts  upon 
the  thought  itself.  Shakespeare  himself  would 
have  been  commonplace  had  he  been  padlocked  in  a 
thinly  shaven  vocabulary,  and  Phidias,  had  he  worked 
in  wax,  only  a  more  inspired  Mrs.  Jarley." 

The  advice  which  Lowell  gives  concerning  a  course  of 
reading  and  the  ends  of  scholarship  to  be  kept  in  mind 
by  those  who  read  with  a  purpose  is  too  valuable  to  be 
omitted  in  this  connection  : 

' l  One  is  sometimes  asked  by  young  people  to  recom- 
mend a  course  of  reading.  My  advice  would  be  that 
they  should  confine  themselves  to  the  supreme 

His  advice. 

books  in  whatever  literature,  or,  still  better, 
to  choose  some  one  great  author  and  make  themselves 
thoroughly  familiar  with  him.  For,  as  all  roads  lead  to 
Eome,  so  do  they  likewise  lead  away  from  it,  and  you 
will  find  that  in  order  to  understand  perfectly  and  to 
weigh  exactly  any  vital  piece  of  literature  you  will  be 
gradually  and  pleasantly  persuaded  to  excursions  and 
explorations  of  which  you  little  dreamed  when  you  began, 
and  will  find  yourselves  scholars  before  you  are  aware. 
For,  remember,  there  is  nothing  less  profitable  than 
scholarship  for  the  mere  sake  of  scholarship,  nor  any- 
thing more  wearisome  in  the  attainment.  But  the 
moment  you  have  a  definite  aim,  attention  is  quickened, 
the  mother  of  memory,  and  all  that  you  acquire  groups 
and  arranges  itself  in  an  order  that  is  lucid,  because 


THE  RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS.  143 

everywhere  and  always  it  is  in  intelligent  relation  to  a 
central  object  of  constant  and  growing  interest.  This 
method  also  forces  upon  us  the  necessity  of  thinking, 
which  is,  after  all,  the  highest  result  of  all  education. 
For  what  we  want  is  not  learning,  but  knowledge  ;  that 
is,  the  power  to  make  learning  answer  its  true  end  as  a 
quickener  of  intelligence  and  a  widener  of  our  intel- 
lectual sympathies.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every  one 
is  fitted  by  nature  or  inclination  for  a  definite  course  of 
study,  or,  indeed,  for  serious  study  in  any  sense.  I  am 
quite  willing  that  these  should  'browse  in  a  library,'  as 
Dr.  Johnson  called  it,  to  their  heart's  content.  It  is 
perhaps  the  only  way  in  which  time  may  be  profitably 
wasted.  But  desultory  reading  will  not  make  a  'full 
man,'  as  Bacon  understood  it,  of  one  who  has  not  John- 
son's memory,  his  power  of  assimilation,  and,  above  all, 
his  comprehensive  view  of  the  relations  of  things.  '  Eead 
not,'  says  Lord  Bacon,  in  his  '  Essay  of  Studies, '  'to  con- 
tradict and  confute  ;  not  to  believe  and  take  for  granted  j 
nor  to  find  talk  and  discourse ;  but  to  weigh  and  con- 
sider. Some  books  are  to  be  tasted,  others  to  be  swal- 
lowed, and  some  few  to  be  chewed  and  digested  ;  that  is, 
some  books  are  to  be  read  only  in  parts ;  others  to  be 
read,  but  not  curiously  (carefully),  and  some  few  to  be 
read  wholly  and  with  diligence  and  attention.  Some 
books,  also,  may  be  read  by  deputy.' 

"This  is  weighty  and  well  said,  and  I  would  call  your 
attention  especially  to  the  wise  words  with  which  the 
passage  closes.  The  best  books  are  not  always  those 
which  lend  themselves  to  discussions  and  comment,  but 
those  (like  Montaigne's  'Essays')  which  discuss  and  com- 
ment ourselves."  * 


*  Lowell's  "  Books  and  Libraries,"  pages  88-90,  vol.  vi.,  Riverside 
Edition. 


144          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

Professor  Phelps,  in  his  lectures  to  divinity  students, 
gives  golden  advice  to  the  class  of  professional  men  whose 
life-work  compels  them  to  draw  upon  their  productive 
intellect  more  than  any  other  class  of  professional  men. 

"  There  is  an  influence  exerted  by  books  upon  the 
mind  which  resembles  that  of  diet  upon  the  body.  A 
studious  mind  becomes,  by  a  law  of  its  being, 
like  the  object  which  it  studies  with  enthusi- 
asm. If  your  favorite  authors  are  superficial,  gaudy, 
short-lived,  you  become  yourself  such  in  your  culture 
and  your  influence.  If  your  favorite  authors  are  of  the 
grand,  profound,  enduring  order,  you  become  yourself 
such  to  the  extent  of  your  innate  capacity  for  such 
growth.  Their  thoughts  become  yours  not  by  transfer, 
but  by  transfusion.  Their  methods  of  combining  thoughts 
become  yours ;  so  that  on  different  subjects  from  theirs 
you  will  compose  as  they  would  have  done  if  they  had 
handled  those  subjects.  Their  choice  of  words,  their 
idioms,  their  constructions,  their  illustrative  materials 
become  yours ;  so  that  their  style  and  yours  will  belong 
to  the  same  class  in  expression,  and  yet  your  style  will 
never  be  merely  imitative  of  theirs. 

"It  is  the  prerogative  of  great  authors  thus  to  throw 
back  a  charm  over  subsequent  generations  which  is  often 
more  plastic  than  the  influence  of  a  parent  over  a  child. 
Do  we  not  feel  the  fascination  of  it  from  certain  favorite 
characters  in  history  ?  Are  there  not  already  certain 
solar  minds  in  the  firmament  of  your  scholarly  life  whose 
rays  you  feel  shooting  down  into  the  depths  of  your 
being,  and  quickening  there  a  vitality  which  you  feel  in 
every  original  product  of  your  own  mind  ?  Such  minds 
are  teaching  you  the  true  ends  of  an  intellectual  life. 
They  are  unsealing  the  springs  of  intellectual  activity. 
They  are  attracting  your  intellectual  aspirations.  They 
are  like  voices  calling  to  you  from  the  sky. 


THE  RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS.  145 

"Bespectiug  this  process  of  assimilation,  it  deserves 
to  be  remarked  that  it  is  essential  to  any  broad  range  of 
originality.  Never,  if  it  is  genuine,  does  it  create  copy- 
ists or  mannerists.  Imitation  is  the  work  of  undeveloped 
mind.  Childish  mind  imitates.  Mind  unawakened  to 
the  consciousness  of  its  own  powers  copies.  Stagnant 
mind  falls  into  mannerism.  On  the  contrary,  a  mind 
enkindled  into  aspiration  by  high  ideals  is  never  content 
with  imitated  excellence.  Any  mind  thus  awakened 
must,  above  all  things  else,  be  itself.  It  must  act  itself 
out,  think  its  own  thoughts,  speak  its  own  vernacular, 
grow  to  its  own  completeness.  You  can  no  more  become 
servile  under  such  a  discipline  than  you  can  uncon- 
sciously copy  another  man's  gait  in  your  walk  or  mask 
your  own  countenance  with  his."  * 

"Give  to  yourself  a  hearty,  affectionate  acquaintance 
with  a  group  of  the  ablest  minds  in  Christian  literature, 
and  if  there  is  anything  in  you  kindred  to  such  minds, 
they  will  bring  it  up  to  the  surface  of  your  own  con- 
sciousness. You  will  have  a  cheering  sense  of  discovery. 
Quarries  of  thought  original  to  you  will  be  opened. 
Suddenly,  it  may  be  in  some  choice  hour  of  research, 
veins  will  glisten  with  a  lustre  richer  than  that  of  silver. 
You  will  feel  a  new  strength  for  your  life's  work,  because 
you  will  be  sensible  of  new  resources."  f 

There  are  two  ways  of  reading  books, — one  a  help  to 
thinking,  the  other  destructive  of  ability  to  think.  If 
the  reader  allows  the  ideas  of  a  book  to  pass  Two  ways 
through  his  mind  as  a  landscape  passes  be-  of  reading. 
fore  the  eye  of  a  traveller,  ever  seeking  the  excitement 
of  something  new  and  never  stopping  to  reflect  upon 
the  contents  of  the  book  so  as  to  weigh  its  arguments,  to 


*  Phelps's  "Men  and  Books,"  pages  105,  106. 
flbid.,  page  124. 

10 


146  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

notice  its  beauties,  and  to  appropriate  its  truths,  the  book 
will  leave  him  less  able  to  think  than  before.  Passive 
reading  is  permissible  when  the  aim  is  merely  recreation, 
but  he  who  would  read  to  gain  mental  strength  must  read 
actively,  read  books  that  he  can  understand  only  as  the 
result  of  effort.  President  Porter  gives  this  advice  : 

"The  person,  particularly  the  student,  who  has  never 

wrestled  manfully  and  perseveringly  with  a  difficult  book 

President    will  be  good  for  little  in  this  world  of  wrest- 

Porter.  ijng  an(j  strife.  But  when  you  are  convinced 
that  a  book  is  above  your  attainments,  capacity,  or 
age,  it  is  of  little  use  for  you,  and  it  is  wiser  to  let 
it  alone.  It  is  both  vexing  and  unprofitable  to  stand 
upon  one's  toes  and  strain  one's  self  for  hours  in  efforts 
to  reach  the  fruit  which  you  are  not  tall  enough  to 
gather.  It  is  better  to  leave  it  till  it  can  be  reached 
more  easily.  When  the  grapes  are  both  ripe  and  within 
easy  reach  for  you,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  they  are  not 
sour."  * 

There  are  many  phases  of  the  library  problem  which 

do  not  call  for  consideration  in  this  connection,  but,  in 

addition  to  their  value  as  a  stimulus  to  think- 

Reading 

as  a       ing,  the  function  of  books  in  furnishing  proper 
source  of    material  for  thought  and  suitable  instruments 

material. 

of  thought  deserves  special  consideration  on 
the  part  of  those  charged  with  the  duty  of  teaching  others 
to  think.  There  was  a  time  when  libraries  were  man- 
aged as  if  it  were  the  mission  of  the  librarian  to  keep 
the  books  from  being  used.  The  modern  librarian  seeks 
to  make  accessible  to  all  the  accumulated  wisdom  of  the 
past.  He  regards  the  library  as  a  storehouse  of  knowl- 
edge, from  which  any  one  able  to  read  can  get  what  he 
needs.  Cyclopaedias  and  dictionaries  of  reference,  card 

*  N.  Porter's  "  Books  and  Beading,"  page  57. 


THE  RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS.  147 

catalogues,  and  helps  like  Poole's  "Index  to  Periodical 
Literature"  make  the  best  thought  of  the  best  minds  in 
these  and  other  days  accessible  to  the  student.  He  who 
wishes  to  gain  a  hearing  on  any  theme  must  know  what 
others  have  said  upon  it.  Disraeli  has  well  said  that 
those  who  do  not  read  largely  will  not  themselves  deserve 
to  be  read.  The  prize  debates  between  different  colleges 
are  teaching  students  how  to  utilize  books  in  getting  ma- 
terial for  public  discussions.  Theses  for  graduation 
develop  the  ability  to  use  books  in  the  right  way.  And 
yet,  valuable  as  books  are  for  furnishing  fuel  to  the  mind, 
they  may  be  used  to  destroy  what  little  ability  to  think 
a  pupil  has  otherwise  developed.  To  assign  topics  for 
composition  which  require  a  culling  of  facts  from  books, 
and  to  allow  the  essays  to  be  written  outside  of  school 
hours,  expose  the  pupil  to  unnecessary  temptations.  In 
the  public  schools  there  should  be  set  apart  each  week 
several  periods  of  suitable  length,  during  which  the 
pupil,  under  the  eye  of  the  teacher,  writes  out  his 
thoughts.  In  such  exercises  the  attention  should  not  be 
riveted  upon  capitals,  spelling,  punctuation,  grammatical 
construction,  and  rhetorical  devices ;  the  mind  should 
be  occupied  solely  and  intensely  with  the  expression  of 
the  thought.  Mistakes  should  be  corrected  when  the 
pupil  reviews  and  rewrites  his  composition.  Books  can 
be  used  to  furnish  material  for  thought ;  the  elaboration 
can  be  helped  by  oral  discussions ;  the  interest  thereby 
aroused  will  make  each  member  of  the  class  anxious  to 
express  his  thoughts ;  hesitation  in  composing  and  dis- 
traction from  dread  of  mistakes  can  be  over- 

Ennching 

come  by  making  the  class  write  against  time.  one's  vo- 
Books  are  helpful  in  enriching  one's  vocabu-  cabular>'- 
lary.  Treatises  on  rhetoric  teach  what  words  should 
be  avoided.  The  student  finds  more  difficulty  in  get- 
ting enough  words  to  express  his  thoughts.  The  study 


148  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

of  a  good  series  of  readers  is  more  valuable  as  a  means 
of  acquiring  a  good  vocabulary  than  all  the  rules  on 
purity,  propriety,  and  so  forth,  which  are  found  in  the 
text-books  on  rhetoric.  A  good  series  of  school  readers 
employs  from  five  to  six  thousand  words.  With  these 
the  average  teacher  is  familiar  to  the  extent  of  knowing 
their  meaning  when  he  sees  them  in  sentences.  He  does 
not  have  a  sufficient  command  of  a  third  of  them  to  use 
them  in  writing  or  speaking.  The  selections  of  a  Fifth 
Eeader  contain  more  words  than  are  found  in  the  vo- 
cabulary of  any  living  author.  The  step  from  know- 
ing a  word  when  used  by  another  to  the  ability  to  use 
that  word  in  expressing  our  own  thoughts  has  not  been 
taken  in  the  case  of  the  larger  proportion  of  the  words 
with  which  we  are  familiar  on  the  printed  page.  Most 
persons  use  more  words  in  writing  than  in  oral  speech, 
more  words  in  public  speaking  than  in  ordinary  conversa- 
tion. We  unconsciously  absorb  many  words  which  we  hear 
others  use,  but  we  pick  up  a  far  larger  number  from  those 
we  see  in  print  simply  because  the  printed  page  contains 
a  larger  variety  of  words  than  spoken  language.  In  this 
respect  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  oral  dis- 
course and  the  written  manuscript  of  the  same  person. 
The  style  is  different ;  the  sentences  in  oral  discourse  are 
less  involved;  the  diction  is  less  complicated;  the  vocabu- 
lary is  less  copious.  Hence  the  advantage  of  the  boy  who 
has  access  to  standard  authors  over  the  youth  who  has 
access  to  few  books,  and  these  not  well  selected.  With- 
out any  effort,  the  former  gains  possession  of  a  vocabu- 
lary which  makes  thinking  easier  and  richer. 

The  lack  of  a  library  of  standard  authors  can  be  sup- 
plied, to  some  extent,  by  a  judicious  use  of  the  school 
school     readers.     If  the  mastery  of  the  words  and  the 
readers,     getting  of  the  thought  precede  the  oral  reading 
of  the  lesson,  and  if  the  vocal  utterance  is  followed  by  oral 


~  THE  RIGHT  USE   OF  BOOKS.  149 

and  written  reproduction  of  the  thought,  correct  habits 
of  study  will  be  formed,  and  the  working  vocabulary  of 
teacher  and  pupil  will  be  vastly  increased.  The  habit  of 
eying  every  stranger  on  the  printed  page  will  be  fixed,  and 
the  appropriation  of  new  words  will  rise  above  the  sub- 
conscious stage.  Only  one  other  exercise  is  comparable, 
— namely,  the  comparison  of  words  in  a  lexicon  for  the 
purpose  of  selecting  the  right  one  in  making  a  translation 
from  some  ancient  or  modern  language.  Such  transla- 
tions, if  honestly  made,  enrich  the  vocabulary  and  fur- 
nish exercise  in  the  study  of  the  finer  shades  of  meaning 
which  words  have,  as  well  as  in  the  use  of  the  words  for 
the  purpose  of  expressing  thought. 

Most  persons,  when  they  face  an  audience  or  feel  at  all 
embarrassed,  think  in  phrases,  in  broken  sentences. 
Hence  exercises  designed  to  cultivate  the  habit  of 
thinking  in  sentences  are  very  valuable.  Franklin's 
plan  of  rewriting  the  thought  of  a  book  like  Franklin's 
"  The  Spectator,"  and  then  comparing  his  own  Plan- 
sentences  with  those  of  a  master-mind,  can  be  followed 
with  great  advantage,  because  it  lifts  the  burden  of  cor- 
rection from  the  teacher's  shoulders  and  throws  it  upon 
the  pupil,  giving  the  latter  the  full  benefit  of  the  exer- 
cise. Moreover,  it  cultivates  in  the  pupil  the  habit  of 
watching  how  thought  is  expressed  by  standard  authors.' 
The  teacher's  interest  in  the  thought  side  of  language 
often  makes  him  forget  that  the  correct  use  of  capitals, 
punctuation  marks,  sentences,  and  paragraphs  is  a  mat- 
ter of  thinking  quite  as  much  as  invention  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  materials.  These  externals  of  the  process 
of  composing  must  at  some  time  be  made  the  object  of 
chief  regard.  The  reason  so  many  pupils  do  correcting 
not  learn  their  use  is  found  in  the  fact  that  papers. 
teachers  hate  the  drudgery  of  correcting  papers,  and  they 
expect  the  pupils  to  acquire  this  knowledge  incidentally. 


150  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

The  right  use  of  books  obviates  the  necessity  for  much 
of  this  drudgery,  and  secures  the  desired  end  with  a 
minimum  expenditure  of  time  and  effort.  Skill  in  the 
use  of  capitals  and  punctuation  marks  is  best  acquired 
when  the  attention  is  not  absorbed  by  the  elaboration 
of  ideas  or  by  the  labor  of  composing.  The  externals 
involved  in  putting  sentences  upon  paper  can  claim 
the  chief  attention  in  the  dictation  of  standard  selections 
from  a  school  reader.  This  exercise  enables  the  pupil 
to  make  his  own  corrections,  and  is  worth  a  dozen  in 
which  the  teacher  makes  the  corrections,  only  to  be 
cast  aside  after  a  momentary  glance  by  the  pupil.  The 
exercise  may  be  varied  by  copying  a  selection  from  a 
standard  author  upon  the  black-board,  covering  it  with 
a  screen  or  shade  (on  rollers)  during  the  dictation,  and 
exposing  it  to  view  only  while  the  corrections  are  made. 
If  each  one  of  the  punctuation  marks  is  made  an  object 
of  special  attention  in  a  particular  grade,  there  are 
enough  grades  to  cover  them  all  before  the  pupil  reaches 
the  high  school. 

A  superintendent  revolutionized  the  language- work  of 

an  entire  county  by  dictating  to  the  applicants  at  the 

annual  examination  for  provisional  certificates 

Dictation. 

a  selection  from  a  First  Eeader  for  the  purpose 
of  testing  their  knowledge  of  capitals  and  punctuation 
and  the  other  details  of  written  speech.  Every  one  saw 
the  value  of  the  test,  and  it  led  to  a  study  of  the  school 
reader  from  a  new  point  of  view. 

It  is  not  easy  to  overestimate  the  value  of  books,  not 

merely  for  those  who  aspire  to  become  thinkers,  but 

Books  for    even  for  all  classes  of  men  in  civilized  life. 

a11-        Books  treasure  the  wisdom   of  the  ages  and 

transmit  it  to  future  generations.     They  kindle  thought, 

enliven  the  emotions,  and  lift  the  soul  into  the  domain 

of   the  true,   the  beautiful,    and  the  good.     They  fur- 


THE  RIGHT   USE    OF  BOOKS. 

nish  recreation  and  instruction,  comfort  and  consola- 
tion, stimulation  and  inspiration.  They  confirm  or  cor- 
rect the  opinions  already  formed,  and  give  tone  to  the 
entire  intellectual  life.  They  enlarge  the  vocabulary, 
exemplify  the  best  methods  of  embodying  thought  in  lan- 
guage, and  show  how  master-minds  throw  their  materials 
into  connected  discourse,  how  they  organize  facts,  truths, 
inferences,  and  theories  into  systems  of  science  or  specu- 
lation. One  can  subscribe  to  all  that  is  said  in  favor  of 
object-teaching  and  laboratory  methods,  and  still  be 
consistent  in  maintaining  that  it  should  be  one  of  the 
chief  aims  of  the  school  to  teach  the  right  use  of 
books,  that  the  college  and  university  fail  in  Right  use 
their  mission  if  they  neglect  to  put  the  student  of  *>ooks. 
into  the  way  of  using  a  library  to  the  best  advantage. 
If  the  policy  of  many  schools  were  adopted  in  other 
fields  of  human  activity,  the  folly  would  be  too  glaring  to 
escape  notice.  Suppose,  by  months  of  effort,  a  botanist 
could  create  in  his  son  a  liking  for  the  plants  of  the 
nightshade  family,  some  of  which,  like  the  potato  and 
the  tomato,  are  good  for  food  and  others  are  poisonous. 
Having  created  the  appetite,  the  father  makes  no  effort 
to  gratify  it.  The  son,  failing  to  distinguish  between 
the  good  and  the  bad,  the  esculent  and  the  poisonous, 
and  finding  the  latter  within  easy  reach,  begins  to  gratify 
his  appetite  by  eating  without  discrimination.  The  deadly 
effects  are  more  easily  imagined  than  described. 

A  parallel  folly  has  been  committed  in  hundreds  of 
communities  which  have  taxed  themselves  to  banish 
illiteracy  and  to  make  ignorance  impossible  Good  nter- 
among  the  young  people.  Beading  is  carefully  ature- 
taught ;  the  ability  to  read  is  followed  by  an  appetite 
for  reading ;  a  strong  desire  for  the  mental  food  de- 
rived from  the  printed  page  is  created.  Yet  nothing  is 
done  to  supply  the  right  kind  of  books  for  the  purpose 


152          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

of  gratifying  this  appetite.  The  average  youth  is  allowed 
to  get  what  he  can  from  the  book-stalls,  which  contain 
much  that  is  as  deleterious  to  the  soul  as  some  plants  of 
the  nightshade  family  are  to  the  body.  It  is  as  much 
a  duty  to  supply  proper  literature  as  it  is  to  impart  the 
ability  to  read.  When,  in  the  twentieth  century,  some 
historian  shall  give  an  account  of  the  educational  devel- 
opment of  Pennsylvania,  he  will  record  it  as  a  fact  pass- 
ing strange  and  well-nigh  incapable  of  explanation  that 
for  more  than  three  decades  there  stood  upon  the  statute- 
books  of  a  great  commonwealth  a  law  preventing  boards 
of  directors  from  appropriating  any  school  funds  to  the 
purchase  of  books  for  a  school  library  except  such  works 
of  a  strictly  professional  character  as  were  necessary  for 
the  improvement  of  the  teachers.  Within  the  last  dec- 
ade a  new  era  has  dawned  in  library  legislation  and  in 
the  purchase  of  books.  Directors  are  now  empowered 
to  levy  a  tax  for  library  purposes,  and  free  libraries  are 
springing  into  existence  not  only  in  the  large  centres  of 
population,  but  even  in  the  rural  schools.  The  move- 
ment has  come  not  a  whit  too  soon  ;  for  habits  of  reading 
are  sadly  needed  to  supplement  life  in  the  factory  and  on 
the  farm.  To  make  from  day  to  day  nothing  except  the 
head  of  a  pin,  or  the  sixtieth  part  of  a  shoe,  may  develop 
marvellous  skill  and  speed  in  workmanship,  but  such 
division  of  labor  leaves  little  room  for  intellectual  activity 
or  for  anything  above  the  merest  mechanical  routine. 

It    should  not  occasion  surprise  that  operatives    in 

factories  seek  the  mental  excitement  which  human  nature 

always  craves  after  hours  of   monotony.      Far  better 

The        that  they  should  find    recreation   in   a   good 

factory,     book  than  in  a  game  of  cards,  in  a  free  library 

than  in  a  drinking-saloon.     That  the  workman  may  taste 

the  joys  of  the  higher  life  of  thought,  it  is  essential  that 

he  have  access  to  the  best  literature  in  prose  and  poetry, 


THE  RIGHT   USE   OF  BOOKS.  153 

to  books  cf  travel,  biography,  history,  science,  and  soci- 
ology. If  he  lack  these,  his  mind  will  lose  itself  in  local 
gossip,  in  discontent  over  his  lot,  in  envy  of  those  who 
have  more  to  eat  and  drink,  better  clothes  to  wear,  and 
better  houses  to  live  in.  Of  the  pleasures  of  the  higher 
life  he  can  have  as  many  as,  if  not  more  than,  others 
have ;  for  at  the  close  of  the  day  his  mind  is  not 
exhausted  by  professional  thinking,  and  he  can  enjoy  a 
good  book  far  more  than  the  men  whose  daily  occupation 
obliges  them  to  seek  recreation  in  physical  exercise. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  life  on  the  farm.  The  in- 
cessant drudgery  of  monotonous  toil  day  after  day  from 
early  dawn  till  late  at  night  has  sent  farmers 

,    ,,     .          .  ,.      &,  ,.  The  farm. 

and  their  wives  to  untimely  graves,  sometimes 
to  the  insane  asylum.  They  need  the  intellectual  stimu- 
lus which  comes  from  good  books,  the  health-giving. rec- 
reation which  comes  with  the  change  from  the  fatiguing 
toil  of  the  day  to  the  perusal  of  good  literature  in  the 
evening.  Under  the  more  rational  policy  of  providing  a 
supply  of  good  books  along  with  the  creation  of  a  taste 
for  reading,  the  working  people  of  the  next  generation 
will  be  as  well  read,  as  well  informed,  and  as  capable  of 
sustained  thought  as  those  who  think  money  all  day,  or 
spend  their  strength  in  vocations  which  act  upon  the 
mind  very  much  as  a  grindstone  acts  upon  a  knife, — 
narrowing  the  blade  while  sharpening  the  edge.  Let  it 
be  hoped  that  early  in  the  twentieth  century  the  laboring 
classes  will  have  shorter  hours  of  work,  more  Twentieth 
leisure  for  reading,  and  an  appreciation  of  good  century, 
books  equal  to  that  of  Charles  Lamb,  who  asserted  that  there 
was  more  reason  for  saying  grace  before  a  new  book  than 
before  a  dinner.  Under  the  beneficent  influence  of  free 
text-books  and  free  libraries  it  should  be  possible  to  create 
in  the  rising  generation  a  spirit  like  that  of  Macaulay,  who 
declared  that  if  any  one  should  offer  to  make  him  the 


154  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

greatest  king  that  ever  lived,  with  palaces  and  gardens, 
and  fine  dinners  and  wines,  and  coaches  and  beautiful 
clothes,  and  hundreds  of  servants,  on  condition  that  he 
should  not  read  books,  he  would  decline  the  offer,  pre- 
ferring to  be  a  poor  man  in  a  garret  with  plenty  of  books 
rather  than  a  king  who  did  not  love  reading. 


X 

OBSERVATION   AND   THINKING 


The  degree  of  vision  that  dwells  in  a  man  is  the  correct  measure 
of  a  man. 

THOMAS  CARLYLE. 

When  general  observations  are  drawn  from  so  many  particulars 
as  to  become  certain  and  indubitable,  these  are  the  jewels  of 
knowledge. 

DR.  I.  WATTS. 

To  behold  is  not  necessarily  to  observe,  and  the  power  of  com- 
paring and  combining  is  only  to  be  obtained  by  education.  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  habits  of  exact  observation  are  not  culti- 
vated in  our  schools  ;  to  this  deficiency  may  be  traced  much  of  the 
fallacious  reasoning,  the  false  philosophy  which  prevails. 

HTJMBOLDT. 

You  should  not  only  have  attention  to  everything,  but  quickness 
of  attention,  so  as  to  observe  at  once  all  the  people  in  the  room, 
their  motions,  their  looks,  and  their  words,  yet  without  staring  at 
them  or  seeming  to  be  an  observer.  This  quick  and  unobserved 
observation  is  of  infinite  advantage  in  life,  and  is  to  be  acquired 
with  care ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  what  is  called  absence,  which  is 
a  thoughtlessness  and  want  of  attention  about  what  is  doing,  makes 
a  man  so  like  either  a  fool  or  a  madman,  that,  for  my  part,  I  see  no 
real  difference.  A  fool  never  has  thought,  a  madman  has  lost  it, 
and  an  absent  man  is  for  the  time  without  it. 

LORD  CHESTERFIELD. 


156 


X 
OBSERVATION   AND   THINKING 

VERY  few  thinkers  have  let  us  into  the  secret  of  their 
thinking.  Probably  most  of  them  could  not  if  they 
would.  They  are  too  much  absorbed  in  that 

Inventors. 

which  engrosses  their  attention  to  pay  any  heed 
to  the  processes  of  the  inner  life.  Occasionally  an  in- 
ventor or  discoverer  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  state  of 
his  mind  when  the  new  idea  flashed  into  consciousness. 
Such  glimpse  always  reveals  his  indebtedness  to  habits 
of  careful  observation.  His  thinking  was  stimulated  by 
some  felt  want  or  puzzling  phenomenon,  and  perhaps  by 
contact  with  others  engaged  in  similar  lines  of  study. 
Oftentimes  a  number  of  persons  are  thinking  of  ways, 
means,  and  contrivances  by  which  a  widely  felt  want 
may  be  supplied  or  a  perplexing  fact  explained.  After 
prolonged  effort  and  meditation,  during  which  the  mind 
is  concentrated  upon  one  thing  to  the  neglect  of  every- 
thing else  having  no  bearing  upon  the  problem  in  hand, 
the  happy  thought  is  suggested  by  the  observation  of 
some  neglected  fact  or  the  perception  of  some  unsus- 
pected relation.  Probably  half  the  inventions  are  made 
in  that  way.  What  seems  accidental  or  a  piece  of  good 
luck  is  in  reality  the  result  of  long  musing  and  reflection, 
during  which  many  comparisons  are  made,  until  at  length 
the  right  combination  gives  the  desired  result.  Wants 
keenly  felt  by  mankind  in  general  or  by  some  gifted  in- 

157 


158  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

dividual  in  particular  serve  as  a  powerful  stimulus  to 
thought,  and  quicken  the  eye  and  the  ear  to  perceive 
what  was  before  unnoticed,  thereby  laying  the  foundation 
for  invention,  discovery,  or  progress  in  new  fields  of 
thought. 

Great  writers  are  equally  indebted  to  their  powers  of 

observation.     Of  the  men  of  genius  whom  the  world  de- 

.  lights  to  honor,  probably  no  one  watched  his 

inner  development  more  closely  than  Goethe. 

He  gives  us  the  following  account  of  how  his  works  were 

produced : 

"To  each  one  of  my  writings  a  thousand  persons,  a 

thousand  things  have  contributed.     The  learned  and  the 

ignorant,  the  wise  and  the  foolish,  childhood 

Goethe. 

and  age  have  all  a  share  therein.  They  all, 
without  suspecting  it,  have  brought  me  the  gifts  of  their 
faculties,  their  thought  and  experience.  Often  they  have 
sown,  and  I  have  reaped.  My  works  are  a  combination 
of  elements  which  have  been  taken  from  all  nature  and 
which  bear  the  name — Goethe." 

Human  nature  furnishes  as  much  room  for  observation 
as  all  the  rest  of  nature.  The  hopes  and  fears,  the  joys 
Human  and  sorrows,  the  trials  and  struggles,  the 
nature,  thoughts  and  beliefs,  the  aspirations  and 
achievements,  the  motives  and  deeds  of  the  men  and 
women  whom  we  meet  in  our  daily  life  and  on  the  pages 
of  history  and  fiction  (such  as  is  true  to  life)  offer  a  field 
for  observation  as  vast,  as  interesting,  and  as  important 
as  all  the  rocks  and  soils,  the  bugs  and  beetles,  the  in- 
sects, birds,  beasts,  and  fishes  that  dwell  beneath  or 
above  or  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  books  taken  from  free  libraries  are  works  of 
fiction, — a  fact  which  shows  that  the  interest  of  most  of 
those  who  read  is  centred  upon  the  things  of  the  human 
heart  and  in  the  observation  of  human  life. 


OBSERVATION  AND    THINKING  159 

Goethe' s  views  of  originality  are  these  : 

"We  are  always  talking  about  originality,  but  what 
do  we  mean  ?  As  soon  as  we  are  born  the  world  begins 
to  work  upon  us,  and  this  goes  on  to  the  end. 

Originality. 

After  all,  what  can  we  call  our  own  except  our 
energy,  strength,  and  will  ?     If  I  could  give  an  account 
of  all  that  I  owe  to  great  predecessors  and   contem- 
poraries, there  would  be  little  left  of  my  own." 

Observation  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  thinking  which 
leads  to  invention  in  the  arts,  to  discovery  in  the  domain 
of  science,  to  productivity  in  the  fields  of  liter-  observa- 
ature,  journalism,  and  oratory.  It  lies  at  the  tion- 
foundation  of  success  in  the  professions  and  in  the  ordi- 
nary walks  of  life.  The  medical  school,  for  instance, 
seeks  to  develop  the  power  of  noting  facts  and  making 
careful  observations.  It  encourages  the  student  to  put 
his  observations  on  paper  while  the  patient  is  before 
him,  to  compare  the  diseased  or  injured  part  with  the 
corresponding  healthy  part,  and  to  watch  symptoms  as  a 
basis  for  a  correct  diagnosis  of  the  case  to  be  treated. 

The  use  of  the  encyclopedia,  if  pursued  without  any 
attempt  to  verify  its  statements,  may  destroy  the  habits 
of  observation  which  are  so  essential  to  cor- 
rect thinking.  Mere  reliance  on  books  cannot 
beget  trustworthy  habits  of  thought,  for  books  contain 
the  errors,  as  well  as  the  wisdom,  of  the  ages.  Errors  of 
judgment  may  be  corrected  by  thinking  ;  errors  of  fact 
must  be  corrected  by  observation.  Many  a  book  is  made 
useless  by  new  observations  and  discoveries.  "Send  to 
the  cellar  as  useless  every  book  on  surgery  that  is  eight 
years  old,"  said  the  professor  to  the  librarian  of  a  great 
university.  The  order  is  an  indication  of  the  rapid  ad- 
vances which  science  is  making  under  the  influence  of 
observation,  experiment,  hypothesis,  and  verification. 
Observation  is  needed  not  merely  to  extend  our  scientific 


160  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO    THINK. 

knowledge,  but  far  more  imperatively  to  acquaint  us 
with  our  environment.  We  cannot  learn  from  books  the 
multitudinous  details  of  business,  or  of  our 
daily  life.  Books  cannot  make  us  acquainted 
with  the  circle  of  friends  in  which  we  move,  the  pupils 
whom  we  teach,  the  things  in  dress,  toilet,  and  behavior 
upon  which  our  standing  and  reputation  very  largely  de- 
pend. No  thinker  has  a  right  to  neglect  these.  Many  a 
famous  professor  has  diminished  "his  usefulness  by  care- 
lessness in  the  observation  of  such  details.  The  worst 
failures  in  the  class-room  are  due  to  failure  in  observing 
either  the  difficulties  or  the  conduct  of  the  pupils.  If 
conduct  is  to  be  regulated,  it  must  be  observed ;  if 
difficulties  are  to  be  explained,  the  teacher  must  perceive 
when  and  where  they  occur. 

Men  noted  for  their  absent-mindedness  nevertheless 
owe  much  of  their  fame  and  success  to  their  ability  to 
make  accurate  observations  in  favorite  lines  of  study. 
Notwithstanding  the  many  ludicrous  tales  about  New- 
ton's failure  to  see  ordinary  conditions  and  circum- 
stances, he  showed  himself  indefatigable  in  watching  the 
effect  of  a  glass  prism  upon  the  ray  of  light  admitted  into 
a  dark  room.  The  falling  of  an  apple  started  in  his 
mind  a  train  of  thought  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the 
law  of  gravitation. 

Our  best  thinking  is  based  upon  experience,  and  our 

two  main  sources  of  experience  are  observation  and  ex- 

Experi-     periment.     How  does  experiment  differ  from 

ment.  simple  observation?  In  the  latter  we  watch 
conditions,  phenomena,  and  sequences  as  they  follow 
one  another  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature.  In  an 
experiment  we  change  or  control  the  course  of  nature 
by  varying  the  conditions  and  causes  for  the  sake  of 
seeing  the  effects  produced.  In  experiment  the  relation 
of  causes  and  effects  is  studied  by  adding  or  excluding 


OBSERVATION  AND    THINKING.  \Q\ 

one  factor  after  another.  Take  the  discovery  which 
made  Daguerre  famous.  Up  to  his  time  men  had  tried  in 
vain  to  fix  the  impression  of  the  image  formed 
in  the  camera  obscura.  No  alchemist  ever 
went  to  work  at  a  more  unpromising  task  than  the  one 
Daguerre  set  before  himself.  "As  years  rolled  on,  the 
passion  only  took  deeper  hold  upon  him.  In  spite  of 
utter  failures  and  discouragement  of  all  kinds,  for  years 
in  loneliness  and  secrecy,  suspected  of  mental  weakness 
even  by  his  wife,  he  kept  on  in  the  same  line  of  experi- 
ment." Finally  an  accident  gave  him  a  clue  to  dis- 
covery. The  plates  with  which  he  experimented  were 
stowed  away  in  a  rubbish  closet.  One  day  he  found,  to 
his  surprise,  upon  one  of  these  plates  the  very  image 
which  had  fallen  upon  it  in  the  camera.  Something  in 
the  closet  must  have  produced  the  effect.  He  removed 
one  thing  after  another,  getting  the  same  effect,  until 
nothing  remained  except  some  mercury  which  had  been 
spilled  upon  the  closet  floor.  This  was  inferred  to  be 
the  agent  which  developed  the  image,  and  thus  was  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  modern  art  of  photography.* 

The  observation  of  a  fact  often  stimulates  thought  in 
new  directions.  In  fact,  new  sciences  have  arisen  from 
accidental  observations.  "  Erasmus  Bartholi-  Accidental 
nus  thus  first  discovered  double  refraction  in 


Iceland  spar  ;  Galvini  noticed  the  twitching  of 
a  frog's  leg  ;  Okeii  was  struck  by  the  form  of  a  vertebra  ; 
Mai  us  accidentally  examined  light  reflected  from  a  distant 
window  with  a  double  refracting  substance  ;  and  Sir  John 
Herschel's  attention  was  drawn  to  the  peculiar  appear- 
ance of  a  solution  of  quinine  sulphate.  In  earlier  times 
there  must  have  been  some  one  who  first  noticed  the 
strange  behavior  of  a  loadstone,  or  the  unaccountable 

*  Charles  F.  Himes's  "Actinism,"  pages  5,  6. 
11 


162  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

motions  produced  by  amber.  As  a  general  rule  we  shall 
not  know  in  what  direction  to  look  for  a  great  body  of 
phenomena  widely  different  from  those  familiar  to  us. 
Chance,  then,  must  give  us  the  starting-point ;  but  one  ac- 
cidental observation  well  used  may  lead  us  to  make 
thousands  of  observations  in  an  intentional  and  organized 
manner,  and  thus  a  science  may  be  gradually  worked 
from  the  smallest  opening."  * 

In  recent  years  experimental  research  has  become  a 
regular  occupation  in  connection  with  large  manufac- 
turing establishments.     In  some  factories  along 

Factories.     .,;?..  ,,      f     •„,. 

the  Ehine  upward  of  sixty  men  are  employed 
in  chemical  experiments  for  the  purpose  of  finding  what 
use  can  be  made  of  waste  products.  In  this  way  over 
two  hundred  useful  products  from  petroleum  have  been 
discovered,  and  a  large  increase  in  profits  has  been  the 
result.  The  great  electrical  works  spend  time  and  money 
upon  experiments,  and  jealously  censor  every  article 
written  by  their  employees  for  scientific  journals  lest 
their  valuable  secrets  should  be  given  away.  A  company 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cash  registers  offers  a  yearly 
premium  for  the  most  helpful  suggestion  from  the  men 
and  women  in  its  employ.  In  one  year  the  firm  received 
over  eleven  hundred  suggestions,  of  which  at  least  eight 
hundred  were  utilized  in  improvements  of  various  kinds. 
These  instances  are  only  samples  of  many  that  could  be 
cited  to  show  how  systematic  observation  and  experiment 
universi-  lend  a  helping  hand  to  our  national  prosperity. 
ties-  Manufacturers  carry  them  on  for  the  sake  of 
gain,  the  universities  for  the  sake  of  widening  the  field 
of  knowledge.  To  aid  in  such  research  large  endowments 
have  been  established,  and  many  of  the  common  people 
willingly  pay  tax  in  support  of  State  universities. 

*  Jevons's  "  Principles  of  Science,"  pages  399,  400. 


OBSERVATION  AND    THINKING.  163 

Treatises  on  inductive  logic  and  on  the  physical  sciences 
have  been  prepared  by  Herschel,  J.  S.  Mill,  Jevons,  and 
others  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  correct  methods  of 
research  by  the  use  of  instruments  of  precision,  of  stand- 
ards of  measurement,  and  of  other  apparatus ;  for  the 
laws  of  thought  must  be  obeyed  in  the  interpretation  of 
natural  phenomena.  Although  as  a  matter  of  discipline 
the  teacher  in  our  public  schools  may  well  study  these 
advanced  treatises,  yet  the  habits  of  observation  which 
the  elementary  school  should  aim  to  beget  and  to  foster 
are  simpler  in  detail,  more  easily  acquired,  and,  it  may 
be  added,  of  inestimable  value  in  the  subsequent  life  of 
the  pupils.  Habits  of  observation  are  needed  not  only 
by  authors,  inventors,  and  scientists,  but  also  Whereob- 
by  all  other  people  for  the  interpretation  of  the  serration  is 
books  they  may  read  and  for  the  discharge  of 
the  daily  duties  devolving  upon  them.  The  engineer,  the 
fireman,  the  conductor,  the  tradesman,  the  mechanic,  the 
detective,  the  scout,  the  warrior,  must  be  able  to  see 
things  as  they  are  or  face  partial  failure.  Too  many  of 
them  have  eyes  and  see  not ;  they  have  ears  and  hear  not. 
The  study  of  nature  is  valuable  as  a  preparation  for  life 
either  in  the  country  or  in  the  city.  Our  rural  popula- 
tion have  not  learned  to  see  and  appreciate  the  marvels 
in  nature  which  are  transpiring  on  every  side.  The  way 
in  which  the  almanac  is  consulted  for  signs  to  guide  in 
sowing  and  planting,  for  prognostications  of  the  weather, 
show  how  little  the  average  man  can  make  ob-  The 
servations.  The  printers  have  found  it  neces-  weather. 
sary  to  retain  these  absolutely  unreliable  weather  predic- 
tions in  their  almanacs  ;  the  attempted  omission  has  been 
an  experiment  involving  the  loss  of  thousands  of  dollars. 
The  success  of  the  quack  is  largely  due  to  limited  obser- 
vation. One  cure  is  made  much  of  while  multitudes  of 
failures  are  always  forgotten. 


164          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

Our  rural  population  would  be  far  more  contented  if 
the  boys  and  girls  were  taught  at  school  how  to  observe 
country  and  appreciate  their  surroundings.  They  have 
and  city,  many  advantages  over  city  folks  which  they 
never  realize  as  sources  of  enjoyment.  The  senses  them- 
selves, which  have  been  styled  the  gate- ways  of  knowledge, 
maybe  improved  by  judicious  exercise  ;  and  the  power  of 
the  mind  to  interpret  sense-impressions  may  be  developed 
to  a  marvellous  degree.  The  savages  of  our  North  Ameri- 
can forests  had  developed  keen  eyes  and  ears ;  the  more 
civilized  backwoodsmen  were  soon  more  than  a  match  for 
the  wily  Indian.  To-day,  when  the  latter  watches  the 
trained  sharp-shooters  hitting  with  unerring  accuracy  a 
mark  more  than  half  a  mile  distant,  he  shakes  his  head 
and  walks  away  in  silence. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  a  child  gains  more  knowledge 
in  the  first  seven  years  of  its  life  than  in  all  its  subse- 
quent  days.     If  the  domain  of  abstract  and 
scientific  knowledge  be  excluded  from  the  com- 
parison,   this  is  probably  true.      At  any  rate,   if  the 
thinking  which  is  based  upon  the  knowledge  of  facts 
thus  gained  is  to  be  correct,  the  facts  must  be  correctly 
observed. 

Observation  is  thus  of  prime  importance,  not  merely 

as  furnishing  a  stimulus  to  thought,  but  also  as  supplying 

abundant  materials  of  thought.     Travel,    ex- 

™a~     perience,  experiment,  as  well  as  the  ordinary 

source  of     course  of  natural  phenomena,  furnish  abundant 

thought-     opportunity  for  the  formation  of  correct  habits 

material. 

of  observation.  The  observations  thus  made 
should  be  recorded  in  the  memory,  if  not  on  manuscript. 
From  the  storehouse  of  the  memory,  thus  filled  with  ma- 
terials for  thought,  the  mind  derives  many  of  the  best 
data  for  reaching  conclusions.  Observation,  experience, 
and  reading,  as  sources  of  thought- material,  presuppose 


OBSERVATION  AND    THINKING. 

an  accurate  and  retentive  memory  in  those  who  think 
well  and  act  well.  The  relation  of  memory  to  thinking 
deserves  treatment  in  a  separate  chapter. 

There  is  a  limit  to  the  number  of  observations  which 
the  mind  can  carry  and  use.      Nature-study  may  be 
overdone.    Mere  seeing  is  not  thinking.    What     Nature- 
the  eye  beholds  must  be  sorted  and  assigned  to      study. 
its  appropriate  class ;   otherwise  the  treasure-house  of 
memory  will  soon  resemble  a  wilderness  of  meaningless 
facts.     Than  this  only  one  thing  can  be  worse, — namely, 
a  wilderness  of  meaningless  words. 

Eeading  is  a  species  of  observation.  An  exercise  in 
oral  reading,  during  which  each  pupil  is  called  down 
as  soon  as  he  miscalls  a  word,  is  often  an 

Reading 

astonishing    revelation,    showing    how  few  of     and  ob- 
the  advanced  pupils  can  accurately  see  and    servation- 
correctly  name  every  word  in  a  stanza  or  paragraph. 
Methods   of   teaching  a  beginner  to  read  are  correct 
in  seeking  to  develop  the  ability  to  pronounce  Teachin 
words  without  help  from  others.     Faulty  ap-     child  to 
plication   of   a  method   that  is  right  in  this       read- 
respect  may  seriously  retard,    and   even   destroy,    the 
power  of  thinking  what  is  on  the  printed  page.     What 
on  earth  is  a  first-year  pupil  to  do  with  the  many  hun- 
dred words  which  he  is  sometimes  taught  to  pronounce  ? 
Often  words  are  arranged  in  sentences  which  come  dan- 
gerously near  the  slang  of  the  slums,  and  which  no  child 
ever  hears  in  a  cultured  home.     Furthermore,  some  sen- 
tences in  primers  and  first  readers  are  well-nigh  void 
of  meaning,  the  aim  being  to  teach  the  words  for  the 
sake  of  the  combinations  of  letters  which  they 

J       First  test. 

contain.     The  first  test  to  apply  to  a  method  of 
teaching  a  beginner  to  read  is  the  question,  How  quickly 
does  it  teach  that  which  must  be  known  as  a  condition 
of  pronouncing  new  words, — namely,  the  shape  and  the 


166  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

sound  or  sounds  of  each  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet1? 
As  compared  with  the  sound  and  the  shape,  the  name  of 
the  letter  is  of  relatively  little  importance.  Students  of 
Hebrew  may  read  that  language  fluently  without  being 
able  to  repeat  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  the  names  of  the  let- 
ters being  a  mere  matter  of  convenience  in  talking  about 
them.  The  second  great  test  to  be  applied  to  the  method 
of  teaching  a  beginner  to  read  is  the  question,  Does  it 
Second  form  the  habit  of  getting  thought  from  the 
test.  printed  page  <?  Grown  men  have  admitted  that 
they  passed  through  several  readers  before  they  discovered 
that  there  was  a  meaning  or  connected  story  in  the  words 
which  they  were  pronouncing.  They  saw  and  gave  names 
to  words  very  much  as  people  see  and  give  names  to  objects 
round  about  them  without  recognizing  the  significance  of 
what  is  seen,  or  thinking  the  thoughts  which  the  Author 
of  the  Universe  has  spread  out  before  them  in  the  great 
book  of  nature. 

The  third  test  to  be  applied  to  the  method  of  teaching 

reading  is  the  question,  Does  it  save  the  pupil  from  the 

unnatural  tones  of  the  school-room  by  training 

Third  test.     ,  .  ,  .  •         .,,.-,..  m      ,-,  • 

him  to  use  his  voice  in  the  right  way  f  To  this 
test  reference  will  be  made  later. 

If  observation  is  to  have  abiding  value,  it  must  lead 

to  thinking.     This  is  as  true  of  the  observation  of  words 

observa     anc^  sentenees  on  the  printed  or  written  page  as 

tion  should  it  is  of  the  observation  of  earth  and  sky  and 

lead  to     s       Q£  ^e  starry  heavens  above  and  the  moral 

thinking.  ; 

law  within  (which  filled  the  soul  of  the  philoso- 
pher Kant  with  never-ceasing  awe).  How  the  things 
obtained  from  books  and  from  the  world  outside  are 
appropriated  in  thought  and  made  our  own  will  appear 
more  fully  when  we  discuss  the  relation  of  memory  to 
thinking. 


XI 

THE   MEMORY   AND   THINKING 


167 


Overburden  not  thy  memory  to  make  so  faithful  a  servant  a 
slave.  Remember  Atlas  was  weary.  Have  as  much  reason  as  a 
camel,  to  rise  when  thou  hast  thy  full  load.  Memory,  like  a 
purse,  if  it  be  overfull  that  it  cannot  shut,  all  will  drop  out  of  it : 
take  heed  of  a  gluttonous  curiosity  to  feed  on  many  things,  lest  the 
greediness  of  the  appetite  of  thy  memory  spoil  the  digestion  thereof. 

THOMAS  FULLER. 

To  impose  on  a  child  to  get  by  heart  a  long  scroll  of  phrases 
without  any  ideas  is  a  practice  fitter  for  a  jackdaw  than  for  any- 
thing that  wears  the  shape  of  man. 

DR.  I.  WATTS. 

The  habit  of  laying  up  in  the  memory  what  has  not  been  digested 
by  the  understanding  is  at  once  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  mental 
weakness. 

SIR  W.  HAMILTON. 

There  is  no  one  department  of  educational  work  in  which  the 
difference  between  skilled  and  unskilled  teaching  is  so  manifest  as 
in  the  view  which  is  taken  of  the  faculty  of  memory,  the  mode  of 
trainir»  :'t,  and  the  uses  to  which  different  teachers  seek  to  put  it. 

FITCH. 


168 


XI 
THE   MEMORY   AND  THINKING 

MANY  people  freely  admit  that  they  have  a  poor 
memory.  Their  misstatements,  breaches  of  etiquette, 
and  failure  to  keep  engagements  they  excuse  by  claim- 
ing a  poor  memory  for  dates,  names,  faces,  facts,  and 
the  like.  Accuse  them  of  possessing  poor  judgment, 
and  they  are  very  much  offended.  They  fail 

J  Memory 

to  see  the  close  relation  between  a  good  mem-  andjudg- 
ory  and  good  judgment,  between  an  accurate  ment- 
memory  and  sound  common  sense,  which  is  but  another 
name  for  good  judgment  in  matters  that  all  men  have  in 
common.  Judgment  affirms  the  agreement  or  disagree- 
ment between  two  objects  of  thought.  It  involves  com- 
parison. How  can  the  comparison  be  accurate  if  the 
memory  is  not  accurate  in  the  ideas  it  recalls  of  the 
things  to  be  compared  ? 

At  one  time  it  was  a  mooted  question  whether  the 
mind  can  think  of  more  than  one  thing  at  a  time.     As  a 
matter  of  doubt  this  question  is  no  longer  discussed. 
For,  since  all  thinking  involves  comparison,  if    compari- 
two  objects  are  to  be  compared,  they  must  be       son- 
held  before  the  mind  at  one  and  the  same  time.     A  good 
memory  is,  therefore,  a  very  important  aid  to  reflection. 

And  yet  Thucydides  and  Lord  Bolingbroke  are  said  to 
have  complained  of  a  memory  so  retentive  of  details  that 
it  seriously  interfered  with  their  processes  of  thought.  It 

169 


170  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

is  commonly  believed  that  much  memory  work  interferes 
with  the  growth  and  development  of  a  pupil's  ability 
Memo-  to  think.  "Much  memorizing  deadens  the 
rising.  power  of  thought,"  says  W.  T.  Harris,  who  is 
recognized  at  home  and  abroad  as  one  of  the  profoundest 
thinkers  that  America  has  produced.  Innumerable  anec- 
dotes are  told  of  great  thinkers  to  show  their  forgetful- 
ness  in  the  commonest  details  of  every-day  life.  These 
anecdotes  are  handed  down  from  one  generation  of 
students  to  the  next ;  their  mirth-provoking  character 
gives  them  vitality ;  they  grow  more  ludicrous  the 
oftener  they  are  told ;  they  do  harm  because  they  lead 
pupils  to  undervalue  the  importance  of  a  good  memory 
to  those  who  are  ambitious  to  shine  as  thinkers.  Often, 
after  it  is  too  late,  the  student  finds  how  he  has  crippled 
his  whole  intellectual  life  by  neglect  and  abuse  of  the 
memory.  A  correct  conception  of  the  nature  of  memory 
and  its  function  in  every  department  of  thought  and 
research  is  of  immense  importance  to  those  who  teach, 
as  well  as  to  those  who  have  gone  far  enough  in  their 
studies  to  give  conscious  direction  to  their  own  intel- 
lectual life.  Most  writers  on  education  have  treated, 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  the  use  and  abuse  of  the  mem- 
ory ;  every  examiner  appeals  to  it  more  or  less  in  the 
questions  he  puts ;  and  every  teacher  shows  the  nature 
and  extent  of  his  skill  in  the  kind  of  demands  he  makes 
upon  the  retentive  power  of  his  pupils.  Take,  for  in- 
stance, the  lesson  in  geometry.  There  are  two  ways 
of  learning  and  giving  the  proof  of  a  theorem :  the 
TWO  forms  language  of  the  text-book  may  be  committed 
of  memory,  to  memory,  and  accepted  in  the  class-room  j 
or  the  pupil  may  fix  in  his  mind  the  line  of  argument 
and  give  in  his  own  language  the  successive  steps  of 
the  demonstration.  The  former  method  is  a  sure  sign 
of  bad  teaching  and  of  defective  habits  of  study.  When- 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  171 

ever  a  skilful  teacher  finds  his  pupils  giving  the  exact 
words  of  the  text-book  on  geometry,  he  changes  the 
lettering  of  the  figure,  and  sometimes  even  the  figure 
itself.  He  is  not  satisfied  until  he  feels  sure  that  the 
pupil  is  thinking  the  thoughts  of  the  geometry  and  re- 
calling the  ideas  by  the  inner  nexus  which  binds  them 
into  a  line  of  argument.  He  insists  on  it  that  the  learner 
shall  cultivate  a  memory  for  ideas  rather  than  words. 

Does  it  follow  that  the  verbal  memory  is  to  be  neglected 
and  despised  ?  This  is  the  feeling  of  the  learner  who  has 
tasted  the  joys  of  thinking ;  he  hates  the  verbal 
drudgery  of  learning  by  heart,  because  he  has  memory. 
reached  the  age  when  logical  memory  begins  to  assert 
itself  at  the  expense  of  the  verbal  memory.  No  less 
a  psychologist  than  Professor  James  of  Harvard  has 
recently  put  in  a  plea  for  the  verbal  memory  which,  by 
reason  of  the  abuses  to  which  it  was  formerly  subjected, 
has  fallen  into  such  disuse  that  pupils  on  reaching  the 
high  school  are  often  unable  to  quote  a  single  stanza 
of  poetry.  In  his  "Talks  on  Psychology  to  Teachers" 
he  says, — 

"The  older  pedagogic  method  of  learning  things  by 
rote,  and  reciting  them  parrot-like  in  the  school-room, 
rested  on  the  truth  that  a  thing  merely  read  or  heard, 
and  never  verbally  reproduced,  contracts  the  weakest 
possible  adhesion  to  the  mind.  Verbal  recitation  or  re- 
production is  thus  a  highly  important  kind  of  reactive 
behavior  on  our  impressions  ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared,  in  the 
reaction  against  the  old  parrot  recitations  as  the  begin- 
ning and  end  of  instruction,  the  extreme  value  of  verbal 
recitation  as  an  element  of  complete  training  may  nowa- 
days be  too  much  forgotten."* 

Psychologists  have  shown  that,  in  remembering  and 

*  "Talks  on  Psychology,"  page  34. 


172  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

recollecting,  the  mind  works  according  to  certain  laws  of 
association.     Of  two  words  or  ideas  which  have  been  be- 

Associa-  f°re  ft16  mind  at  the  same  time,  or  in  immediate 
tion-  sequence,  the  one  naturally  tends  to  suggest 
the  other.  If  the  attention  is  directed  to  the  words  as 
they  follow  each  other  in  a  line  of  poetry,  the  memory 
will  recall  these  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur.  If  the 
mind' s  eye  is  fixed  on  the  ideas  which  the  words  express, 
the  memory  may  carry  these  by  reason  of  the  logical 
connection  which  exists  between  them.  Often  the  con- 
nection between  the  two  things  which  are  to  be  remem- 
bered is  purely  arbitrary.  Then  the  link  which  binds 
them  together  must  be  forged  by  some  mechanical  process 
like  frequent  oral  repetition,  or  by  constant  gazing  at 
them  upon  the  printed  page,  or  by  writing  them  out  so 
that  the  impression  made  upon  the  mind  through  the  eye 
and  the  ear  is  further  strengthened  through  the  muscular 
sense.  The  latter  species  of  memory  is  usually  called  the 
mechanical  memory,  in  distinction  from  the  memory  for 
ideas,  which  has  been  aptly  styled  the  logical  memory. 

The  verbal  memory  is  but  one  form  of  the  mechanical 
memory.  There  is  no  necessary  connection  between  per- 
Mechanicai  sons  and  their  names,  between  events  and  dates, 

memory,  between  things  and  their  symbols  ;  these  must 
be  learned  by  bringing  them  together  before  the  mind 
until  by  the  law  of  association,  called  contiguity  in  time 
and  place,  the  link  that  binds  them  is  forged ;  or,  to 
change  the  figure,  until  they  occupy  places  side  by  side 
on  the  tablets  of  the  mechanical  memory.  It  is  some- 
times supposed  that  there  is  a  necessary  connection  be- 
tween the  two  factors  and  their  result  in  the  multiplica- 
tion table.  But  the  moment  we  construct  an  arithmetical 
scale  based  on  the  dozen  instead  of  ten,  7  x  8  =  48  in- 
stead of  56  (the  former  combination  of  figures  signifying 
four  twelves  and  eight  ones),  and  the  arbitrary  character 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  173 

of  the  combinations  in  the  Arabic  notation  becomes  ap- 
parent at  a  glance.  Sometimes  a  peculiarity  in  a  rule 
like  that  for  the  middle  and  the  opposite  parts  in  the 
right-angled  spherical  triangle  may  assist  the  memory ; 
but  in  most  cases  the  formulas  which  are  in  constant  use 
in  the  higher  mathematics  must  be  fixed  by  the  methods 
of  drill  appropriate  for  the  mechanical  memory. 

It  is  a  mistake  in  teaching  as  well  as  in  practical  life  to 
neglect  the  mechanical  memory.  In  many  directions  it 
takes  care  of  itself  through  the  conditions  and  require- 
ments of  a  person's  daily  occupation.  The  salesman  in  a 
large  store,  the  conductor  on  a  railway,  the  politician  on 
the  hustings  remembers  many  things  in  this  way,  and  not 
because  they  are  bound  together  by  a  logical  nexus  like 
that  which  binds  together  the  thoughts  of  a  geometrical 
proof.  Many  things  which  the  pupil  must  carry  from 
the  school  into  practical  life  must  be  retained  through 
drill  and  repetition.  Pestalozzi  imagined  that  if  he 
taught  pupils  how  to  construct  the  multiplica-  pestaiozzi's 
tion  table  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  them  to  mis<»ke. 
commit  it  to  memory.  The  Swiss  teachers  long  ago  found 
out  the  insufficiency  of  his  method  ;  found  out  that,  whilst 
it  pays  to  let  a  pupil  construct  the  table  for  himself, 
because  it  increases  his  interest  in  the  combinations,  and 
thus  lightens  the  burden  of  the  mechanical  memory,  the 
drill  must  be  kept  up  until  the  sight  of  two  factors  sug- 
gests their  product  with  infallible  accuracy.  Valuable 
time  can  be  saved  if  the  teacher  will  make  a  list  of  things 
that  must  be  fixed  in  the  mechanical  memory  for  the 
purpose  of  facilitating  the  thought- processes  in  more 
advanced  stages  of  instruction  and  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  practical  life.  The  following  are  typical  exam- 
ples of  what  should  be  lodged  in  the  mechanical  memory  : 

1.  A  reasonable  vocabulary  of  words  in  the  mother 
tongue. 


174  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

2.  A  working  vocabulary  of  words  in  the  foreign  lan- 
guages which  the  circumstances  or  occupation  of  a  stu- 
dent will  compel  him  to  use. 

3.  The  combinations  of  addition  up  to  one  hundred, 
the  multiplication  table,  and  the  tables  of  weights  and 
measures. 

4.  Algebraic  and    other    formulas  which    constantly 
recur  in  the  higher  mathematics. 

5.  The  fundamental  formulas  in  chemistry,  physics,  and 
other  sciences. 

6.  Declensions,  conjugations,  comparison,  and  genders 
of  words  in  such  foreign  languages  as  the  pupil  expects 
to  read,  write,  and  speak. 

7.  The  most  necessary  fact-lore  of  history  and  geography. 

8.  Choice  selections  from  the  best  literature  and  such 
definitions  as  mark  a  triumph  of  intellect  in  the  history 
of  human  thought. 

This  enumeration  may  indicate  the  range  and  kind  of 
knowledge  which  should  be  fixed  in  the  mechanical 
memory  so  that  the  mind  may  be  in  possession  of  the 
best  instruments  of  thought  evolved  by  ages  of  civiliza- 
tion. Many  of  the  things  above  named  must  be  learned 
by  an  effort  of  retention,  pure  and  simple,  like  that  of 
the  boy  who  is  sent  to  a  store  to  buy  half  a  dozen  sheets 
of  paper,  two  yards  of  ribbon,  five  dozen  eggs,  and  speci- 
fied quantities  of  salt,  flour,  and  other  provisions.  He 
may  write  these  on  paper  and  thus  ease  the  memory 
burden,  but  in  solving  mathematical  problems  and  in 
reading,  writing,  or  speaking  a  foreign  language  it  is  im- 
possible always  to  carry  for  use  written  or  printed  tables, 
vocabularies,  and  lexicons.  To  use  these  in  thinking, 
one  must  have  them  on  his  tongue  and  at  his  fingers' 
end.  Of  course  it  makes  a  difference  whether  one  wishes 
simply  to  read  a  language,  like  Latin  or  Greek,  or  to  use 
it,  like  French  and  German,  in  conversation  and  corre- 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  175 

spondence.  In  the  former  instance  it  is  sufficient  to  learn 
the  language  symbols  through  the  eye  ;  in  the  latter  they 
must  be  acquired  through  the  ear,  the  tongue,  and  the  pen. 
It  is  a  wise  provision  of  nature  that  the  perceptive 
powers  and  the  mechanical  memory  are  most  active  in 
childhood  and  youth.  The  normal  child  is  -nmefor 
hungry  for  words  and  facts,  and  gathers  infor-  learning 
mation  from  every  conceivable  quarter.  The  ] 
judgment  and  the  reason  develop  after  the  mind  has  been 
stored  with  the  materials  upon  which  these  may  act. 
Parents  and  teachers  who  are  ignorant  of  this  order  of 
development  often  force  the  reasons  for  arithmetical  pro- 
cesses upon  the  pupil  when  these  are  difficult  and  when 
he  could  learn  the  eleven  hundred  variations  of  the 
Greek  verb  without  difficulty,  whilst  the  study  of  the 
classical  and  foreign  languages  is  postponed  to  an  age 
when  the  acquisition  of  a  new  language  becomes  a  diffi- 
cult task  because  the  logical  memory  has  driven  the 
mechanical  into  the  background,  and  the  growth  of  judg- 
ment and  reason  makes  the  pupil  crave  the  intellectual 
food  furnished  by  the  thought-studies.  It  is  a  species  of 
cruelty  to  force  upon  children  the  consideration  of  the 
why's  and  the  wherefore's  of  mathematical  operations, 
when  learning  how  to  go  through  the  motions  would  be 
quite  enough  of  a  tax  upon  their  mental  strength.  Some 
of  the  demonstrations  in  arithmetic  are  logically  more 
difficult  than  many  of  the  proofs  in  geometry  ;  hence  no 
pupil  should  be  asked  to  pass  his  final  examination  in 
arithmetic  before  he  has  mastered  the  elements  of  geome- 
try. The  proper  sequence  of  subjects  is  of  immense  im- 
portance in  leading  the  child  from  the  lower  to  the 
higher  forms  of  intellectual  activity.  With  the  proper 
study  of  geometry  the  logical  memory  steps  to  the  front, 
and  the  thought-studies  should  then  supplant  those  which 
largely  appeal  to  the  mechanical  memory. 


176  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  a  distinct  loss  if  the  verbal  or  me- 
chanical memory  is  ever  allowed  to  drop  into  desuetude. 
On  this  point  the  practice,  as  well  as  the  testimony,  of 
Dr.  W.  T.  Harris  is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  every 
person  charged  with  the  training  of  himself  or  others. 

"If  a  person  finds  himself  forgetful  of  names,  it  is  a 
health-giving  process  to  take  a  certain  portion  of  time  in 

Hams      committing  to  memory  words.     If  this  is  done 

on  the  by  committing  new  masterpieces  of  poetry  and 
prose,  or  in  committing  to  memory  the  words 
of  a  new  language,  there  is  profit  or  gain  to  the  thinking 
powers,  as  well  as  to  the  memory.  Doubtless  the  cul- 
tivation of  verbal  memory,  building  up,  as  it  does,  a 
certain  convolution  in  the  brain,  has  a  tendency  to 
prevent  atrophy  in  that  organ.  This  contains  a  hint 
in  the  direction  of  keeping  up  in  the  later  part  of  life 
the  faculties  which  are  usually  so  active  in  youth.  The 
tendency  is  to  neglect  childish  faculties  and  allow  them 
to  become  torpid.  But  if  this  is  liable  to  weaken  cer- 
tain portions  of  the  brain  in  such  a  way  as  to  induce 
hemorrhage,  ending  in  softening  of  the  brain,  certainly 
the  memory  should  be  cultivated,  if  only  for  the  health 
of  the  brain,  and  the  memory  for  mechanical  items 
of  detail  should  be  cultivated  on  grounds  of  health  as 
well  as  on  grounds  of  culture.  The  extreme  advocates 
of  the  rational  method  of  teaching  are  perhaps  wrong  in 
repudiating  entirely  all  mechanical  memory  of  dates  and 
names  or  items.  Certainly  they  are  right  in  opposing  the 
extremes  of  the  old  pedagogy,  which  obliged  the  pupils 
to  memorize,  page  after  page,  the  contents  of  a  grammar 
verbatim  et  literatim  et  punctuatim  (as,  for  instance,  the 
graduates  of  the  Boston  Latin  School  tell  us  was  the  cus- 
tom early  in  this  century).  But  is  there  not  a  middle 
ground!  Is  there  not  a  minimum  list  of  details,  of 
dates  and  names  which  must  and  should  be  memorized, 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING  177 

both  on  account  of  the  health  of  the  nervous  system  and 
on  account  of  the  intrinsic  usefulness  of  the  data  them- 
selves ?  And  must  not  the  person  in  later  life  continue 
to  exercise  these  classes  of  memory  which  deal  with  de- 
tails for  the  sake  of  physical  health  t  This  is  a  question 
for  the  educational  pathologist."  * 

A  teacher  of  Hebrew  spent  one-fourth  of  his  time  in 
drill  on  Hebrew  roots  and  their  meaning.  His  students 
groaned  under  the  drudgery  imposed.  At  the  vocabu- 
end  of  the  first  six  chapters  of  Genesis,  he  laries. 
surprised  his  class  by  the  announcement,  "Now  you 
know  half  the  words  in  the  Hebrew  Bible."  He  had 
selected  words  used  five  hundred  times,  then  words  used 
three  hundred  times,  and  drilled  on  these  in  various  ways 
until  he  had  fixed  all  the  words  in  most  frequent  use  in 
the  Hebrew  text.  It  was  a  great  saving  of  time  in  the 
end,  and  a  great  step  towards  reading  at  sight  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  original.  By  the  modern  short-cuts  to 
knowledge  the  pupils  are  hurried  from  one  classic  author 
to  another,  and  hence  they  never  master  the  vocabulary 
to  the  extent  of  reading  Latin  or  Greek  at  sight.  A 
little  less  haste  at  the  start,  and  a  little  more  drill  for  the 
purpose  of  fixing  new  words  as  they  come  up,  thus  avoid- 
ing the  everlasting  turning'  to  the  lexicon  for  more  than 
half  the  words  in  a  lesson,  would  facilitate  progress  and 
enable  the  student  to  find  some  pleasure  in  the  study  of 
foreign  languages. 

An  old  teacher  of  Latin,  who  had  discovered  this 
secret  in  the  acquisition  of  a  foreign  tongue,  agreed 
to  take  a  small  class  in  Livy  on  condition  Teaching 
that  the  students  write  in  a  special  blank-book  languages. 
and  review  every  day  all  the  words  whose  meaning 
they  were  required  to  hunt  in  the  lexicon.  At  the  end 

*  "  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,"  pages  177, 178. 
12 


178  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

of  ten  weeks  half  the  class  read  two  pages  without  look- 
ing up  more  than  two  words.  Their  study  of  Latin  not 
only  gave  them  a  sense  of  pleasure,  but,  in  thinking  the 
thoughts  of  the  author  through  the  medium  of  the  eye- 
symbols  and  then  putting  them  into  good  English,  they 
acquired  excellent  thought-material,  an  extensive  vo- 
cabulary, and  superior  skill  in  syntactical  construction. 
It  proved  a  most  valuable  exercise  in  thinking  and  in  the 
expression  of  thought. 

Valuable  as  the  mechanical  memory  is  for  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  the  thought-instruments,  it  sinks  into  corn- 
Logical  parative  insignificance  alongside  of  the  logical 
memory,  memory.  The  latter  is  the  memory  for  ideas, 
binding  them  by  associations  based  on  cause  and  effect, 
reason  and  consequence,  similarity  and  contrast,  the 
general  and  the  particular.'  It  is  the  kind  of  memory 
by  which  the  mind  carries  a  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  science,  the  principles  of  art,  the  salient  points  of 
a  discourse,  the  train  of  ideas  in  a  book,  the  leading 
thoughts  in  a  system  of  philosophy.  It  converts  history 
and  geography  from  a  dry  collection  of  facts,  dates,  and 
names  into  a  living  organism  whose  parts  are  internally 
related  by  a  plastic  principle,  and  combined  into  a  whole 
that  has  order  and  system  in  every  detail.  How  much 
better  that  a  pupil's  knowledge  of  history  and  geography 
should  be  thus  systematized  than  that  it  should  resemble 
a  wilderness  of  facts  !  As  a  means  for  furnishing  thought- 
material,  the  logical  memory  is  far  more  valuable  than 
the  memory  which  holds  words  and  things  by  the  acci- 
dental ties  of  sound,  sight,  and  fanciful  relations. 

A  classification  of  the  forms  of  memory  into  portative, 

Latham's    analytical,  and  assimilative,  given  in  Latham's 

ciassifica-    book   on  the    "Action  of   Examinations,"    is 

lon-       helpful  in  determining  the  relation  of  memory 

to  thinking. 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  179 

The  portative  memory  simply  conveys  matter.  "Its 
only  aim,  like  that  oJLa.  carrier,  is  to  deliver  the  parcel 
as  it  was  received."  |  It  is  the  form  of  memory  portative 
that  enables  some  people  to  carry  the  contents  memory. 
of  entire  volumes  in  their  minds,  sometimes  in  the 
very  words,  oftener  in  ideas  only.  The  rhapsodists 
in  ancient  Greece  who  could  repeat  entire  books  of 
Homer  are  examples  in  point.  Some  men  of  superior 
talent  have  possessed  this  power  in  an  eminent  degree. 
Macaulay,  on  a  voyage  across  the  Irish  Channel,  rehearsed 
from  memory  an  entire  book  of  Virgil's  a^Jneid."  It 
is  the  kind  of  memory  that  shines  at  examinations  and 
excites  the  envy  of  persons  less  gifted  with  powers  of 
retention.  It  may  easily  be  degraded  into  a  slave,  doing 
work  which  should  be  performed  by  higher  mental 
powers.  Hence  it  has  been  appropriately  styled  the 
Cinderella  faculty  of  the  mind.  Like  the  girl  in  the 
story,  it  may  be  abused  dreadfully  by  having  all  sorts  of 
useless  drudgery  heaped  upon  it.  To  require  a  child  to 
learn  the  five  thousand  isolated  facts  formerly  scattered 
through  treatises  on  geography  was  an  exercise  as  useless 
as  the  picking  of  the  lentils  which  were  poured  into  the 
ashes  to  give  Cinderella  something  to  do,  and,  unfortu- 
nately, there  is  no  bird  from  fairy-land  to  assist  in  the 
accomplishment  of  the  task. 

Much  as  we  may  admire  the  power  of  Thomas  Fuller, 
who  could  repeat  five  hundred  unrelated  words  in  foreign 
languages  after  hearing  them  twice,  it  is  an  accomplish- 
ment not  worth  acquiring.  As  an  accomplishment  it 
recalls  the  king  to  whom  a  man  exhibited  his  skill  in 
throwing  a  pea  so  that  it  would  stick  on  the  end  of  a 
pin, — a  feat  acquired  after  years  of  patient  practice.  The 
man  hoped  to  get  a  valuable  present  for  his  exhibition 
of  skill.  The  king  ordered  a  bag  of  pease  to  be  given 
him,  saying  that  it  was  all  his  accomplishment  was  worth. 


180  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

There  is  no  end  of  warnings  as  to  the  possible  evil 
effects  of  a  good  memory  upon  the  power  to  think, — 
warnings  that  a  teacher  may  take  to  heart  with  advan- 
tage to  himself  and  others. 

Dr.  Carpenter  asserts  that  when  the  form  of  memory 

by  which  children  learn  a  piece  of  poetry  whose  meaning 

they    do    not   comprehend   exists   in   unusual 

Memory 

and  the  strength,  it  seems  to  impede  rather  than  aid 
under-  f^g  formation  of  the  nexus  of  associations 
which  makes  acquired  knowledge  a  part  of  the 
mind  itself.  In  illustration,  he  cites  the  suggestive  case 
of  Dr.  Ley  den,  "who  was  distinguished  for  his  extraor- 
dinary gift  of  learning  languages,  and  who  could  repeat 
long  acts  of  Parliament,  or  any  similar  document,  after 
having  once  read  it.  Being  congratulated  by  a  friend 
on  his  remarkable  gift,  he  replied  that,  instead  of  being 
an  advantage  to  him,  it  was  often  a  source  of  great  in- 
convenience, because,  when  he  wished  to  recollect  any- 
thing in  a  document  he  had  read,  he  could  only  do  it  by 
repeating  the  whole  from  the  commencement  till  he 
reached  the  point  he  wished  to  recall." 

Latham  has  well  said,  "The  ready  mechanical  memory 
of  a  youth,  besides  enabling  him  to  mislead  unpractised 
examiners,  makes  him  deceive  himself.  Teachers  find 
that  a  very  ready  memory  is  a  bad  educator  ;  it  stunts 
the  growth  of  other  mental  powers  by  doing  their  work 
for  them.  ;A  youth  who  can  recollect  without  trouble 
will,  as  it  were,  mask  the  difficulty  in  his  classical  author 
or  his  mathematics  by  learning  by  rote  what  stands  in 
his  translation  or  text-book,  and  march  forward  without 
more  ado.  Thus  a  quick  memory  involves  a  temptation 
which  may  enervate  its  possessor  by  suffering  him  to 
evade  a  difficulty  instead  of  bracing  himself  to  encounter 
it  in  front."  * 

*  Latham,  "Action  of  Examinations,"  pages  229,  230. 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  181 

Maudsley  writes  in  the  same  strain  :  ' '  This  kind  of 
memory,  in  which  the  person  seems  to  read  a  photo- 
graphic copy  of  former  impressions  with  his  mind's  eye, 
is  not,  indeed,  commonly  associated  with  high  intel- 
lectual power  ;  for  what  reason  I  know  not,  unless  it  be 
that  the  mind,  to  which  it  belongs,  is  prevented,  by  the 
very  excellence  of  its  power  of  apprehending  and  recall- 
ing separate  facts,  from  rising  to  that  discernment  of  their 
relations  which  is  involved  in  reasoning  and  judgment, 
and  so  stays  in  a  function  which  should  be  the  founda- 
tion of  further  development,  or  that,  being  by  some 
natural  defect  prevented  from  rising  to  the  higher  sphere 
of  a  comprehension  of  relations,  it  applies  all  its  energies 
to  a  comprehension  of  details.  Certainly  one  runs  the 
risk,  by  overloading  the  memory  of  a  child  with  details, 
of  arresting  the  development  of  the  mental  powers  of 
the  child ;  stereotyping  details  on  the  brain,  we  prevent 
that  further  development  of  it  which  consists  in  rising 
from  concrete  conceptions  to  the  conception  of  rela- 
tions." * 

Here  is  another  warning  from  the  pen  of  Archbishop 
Whately : 

"Some  people  have  been  intellectually  damaged  by 
having  what  is  called  a  good  memory.  An  unskilful 
teacher  is  content  to  put  before  children  all  they  ought 
to  learn,  and  to  take  care  that  they  remember  it ;  and  so, 
though  the  memory  is  retentive,  the  mind  is  left  in  a 
passive  state,  and  men  wonder  that  he  who  was  so  quick 
at  learning  and  remembering  should  not  be  an  able  man, 
which  is  as  reasonable  as  to  wonder  that  a  cistern  if 
filled  should  not  be  a  perpetual  fountain.  Many  men 
are  saved  by  their  deficiency  of  memory  from  being 
spoiled  by  an  education  ;  for  those  who  have  no  extraor- 

*  Maudsley' s  "  Physiology  of  the  Mind,"  page  518. 


182  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

dinary  memory  are  driven  to  supply  its  place  by  think» 
ing.  If  they  do  not  remember  a  mathematical  demon- 
stration, they  are  driven  to  devise  one.  If  they  do  not 
remember  what  Aristotle  or  Bacon  said,  they  are  driven 
to  consider  what  they  are  likely  to  have  said  or  ought 
to  have  said."  * 

In  his  letter  to  a  student  who  lamented  his  defective 
memory,  P.  C.  Hamerton  says  that,  so  far  from  writing,  as 
might  be  expected,  a  letter  of  condolence  on  a  miserable 
memory,  he  felt  disposed  to  write  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion. '-;"It  is  possible  that  you  may  be  blessed  with  a 
selecting  memory  which  is  not  only  useful  for  what  it 
retains,  but  also  for  what  it  rejects.  In  the  immense 
mass  of  facts  which  come  before  you  in  literature  and  in 
life  it  is  well  that  you  should  suffer  as  little  bewilderment 
as  possible.  The  nature  of  your  memory  saves  you  from 
this  by  unconsciously  selecting  what  has  interested  you 
and  letting  the  rest  go  by."  f 

In  the  last  quotation  we  get  a  hint  of  the  form  of  mem- 
ory which  Latham  styles  the  analytical.  "The  analyti- 
Anaiyticai  cal  memory  is  exercised  when  the  mind  furnishes 
memory.  a  vjew  Of  jts  own  and  thereby  holds  together  a 
set  of  impressions  selected  out  of  a  mass.  Thus  a  barris- 
ter strings  together  the  material  facts  of  his  case,  and  a 
lecturer  those  of  his  science  by  their  bearing  on  what  he 
wants  to  establish." 

Many  thinkers  sift  everything  they  read,  hear,  and  see. 
That  which  they  do  not  need  is  rejected  and  forgotten. 
That  which  has  a  bearing  upon  their  investigations  is 
selected,  retained,  and  utilized.  As  an  aid  in  thinking  a 
form  of  retention  called  the  index  memory  is  very  help- 
ful. The  lawyer  should  know  where  to  find  such  law  as 

*  Annotations  on  Bacon's  Essay  "  Of  Studies." 
f  Hamerton' s  "Intellectual  Life,"  page  125. 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  183 

he  does  not  carry  in  his  head.  \  Having  found  the  re- 
quired statute  or  judicial  interpretation,  he  applies  it  to 
the  case  in  hand.  No  sooner  is  a  case  finally  decided  or 
settled  than  he  drops  its  details  from  his  mind  and  directs 
his  intellectual  strength  to  the  interests  of  the  next  client. 

In  this  ability  to  sift,  select,  and  reject,  as  the  occasion 
demands,  lies  the  secret  of  the  success  of  many  a  public 
lecturer,  of  many  a  magazine  writer.  The  men  in  the 
pulpit  or  upon  the  platform  who  lack  this  gift  soon  wear 
out ;  the  public  speedily  detects  when  they  have  nothing 
more  to  give.  The  preparation  of  debates,  speeches, 
essays,  and  theses  trains  these  forms  of  memory.  After 
the  analytical  habit  has  been  formed,  the  student  un- 
consciously, yet  constantly,  gathers,  classifies,  and  stores 
materials  for  thought.  The  public  are  frequently  sur- 
prised by  the  array  of  striking  facts,  interesting  data, 
apt  illustrations,  and  pleasing  anecdotes  with  which  he 
enlivens  every  topic  of  discussion  and  elucidates  every 
subject  of  investigation. 

Higher  than  the  analytical  is  the  assimilative  form  of 
memory  which  "absorbs  matter  into  the  system  so  that 
the  knowledge  assimilated  becomes  a  part  of  Assimiia- 
the  person's  own  self,  like  that  of  his  name  or  tivemem- 
of  a  familiar  language."  The  assimilation  of 
knowledge  has  a  parallel  in  the  assimilation  of  food. 
The  phrase  that  knowledge  is  the  food  of  the  mind  has 
almost  become  classical  in  treatises  on  education.  The 
figure  of  speech  throws  light  upon  the  relative  functions 
of  memory  and  thinking  in  the  acquisition  and  elabora- 
tion of  knowledge.  Before  the  food  is  set  before  the 
child  it  should  be  cooked  and  put  into  the  most  palatable 
form, — a  parallel  to  the  preparation  of  the  lesson  by  the 
teacher  so  that  he  may  put  it  before  the  learner  in  its 
most  attractive  form. 

Before  the  food  is  swallowed  it  should  be  masticated, 


184  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

broken  into  parts, — a  parallel  to  the  act  of  analysis  by 
which  the  chunks  of  knowledge  are  resolved  into  their 
elements  and  each  set  before  the  mind  in  the  simplest 
form,  in  the  form  in  which  it  can  be  grasped  most  easily. 
If  the  food  remains  in  the  stomach  unchanged,  it  pro- 
duces dyspepsia  and  a  long  train  of  bodily  ills.  If  the 
knowledge  which  the  mind  appropriates  is  retained  un- 
changed, it  produces  mental  dyspepsia,  and  there  is  no 
real  assimilation.  From  this  point  of  view  we  can  easily 
see  why  Montaigne  said  that  to  know  by  heart  is  not  to 
know  at  all.  Just  as  the  food  which  is  taken  into  the 
body  must  be  transformed  into  chyme  and  chyle  and 
blood  before  it  can  be  assimilated,  so  the  knowledge 
which  is  taken  up  by  the  mind  must  be  transformed  if  it 
is  to  be  assimilated.  The  best  illustration  of  the  trans- 
Transfor-  formation  of  knowledge  is  that  given  by  an 
mationof  anecdote  of  Gough,  which  has  now  become 
lge'  classic.  In  a  Pullman  car  a  crying  child  was 
disturbing  the  slumbers  of  every  passenger.  At  last  a 
gruff  miner,  whose  patience  was  exhausted,  stuck  his 
head  out  of  his  berth  and  exclaimed,  "I  should  like  to 
know  where  that  child's  mother  is?"  "In  the  baggage 
car  in  a  coffin,"  was  the  reply  of  the  person  in  charge  of 
the  child.  The  knowledge  imparted  by  that  phrase  was 
immediately  transformed  into  new  thought  and  sentiment 
and  purpose.  There  was  not  another  word  of  complaint 
throughout  the  entire  journey  5  every  passenger  was 
thinking  of  the  unfortunate  child  in  the  light  of  an 
orphan.  Their  hearts  were  stirred  with  feelings  of  sym- 
pathy, which,  in  the  case  of  the  old  miner,  issued  into 
will  and  purpose,  for  he  got  up,  began  to  carry  the  little 
one,  and  did  his  best  to  make  it  feel  contented  in  the  new 
surroundings.  If  the  lessons  in  civil  government  and 
history  of  the  United  States  remain  in  the  memory  a 
mere  tissue  of  dates,  names,  and  events,  the  teacher  has 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING. 

failed,  no  matter  how  brilliant  the  answers  in  class  or  at 
the  examination.  If  these  lessons  do  not  issue  in  new 
thoughts,  sentiments,  and  purposes,  if  they  do  not  enlarge 
the  mental  vision  of  the  pupils,  beget  in  them  the  senti- 
ment of  patriotism  and  cause  them  to  resolve  that  they 
will  support  the  government  by  paying  a  just  share  of 
its  taxes  and  by  insisting  on  a  pure  ballot, — in  a  word,  if 
these  lessons  do  not  make  the  pupil  say  that  he  will  live 
for  his  country  and  even  die  in  its  defence, — then  the 
teacher  has  failed  because  there  has  been  no  adequate 
assimilation  of  knowledge. 

Another  figure  of  speech  is  sometimes  used  to  describe 
the  transformation  of  knowledge.  "  Except  a  grain  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it  abideth  by  itself 
alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  beareth  much  fruit."  *  If  the 
knowledge  which  enters  the  mind  remains  unchanged,  it 
abideth  by  itself  alone.  But  if  it  perish  in  its  original 
form,  if  it  is  changed  through  the  process  of  growth  so 
as  to  enter  into  new  relations,  it  brings  forth  a  harvest 
of  thought  and  sentiment  and  purpose.  The  last  two 
should  be  the  concomitants  of  the  crop  of  new  thoughts 
which  spring  from  seed-thoughts  implanted  in  the  soul. 

That  the  ancients  understood  the  use  and  abuse  of  the 
memory  is  evident  from  their  method  of  teaching  law. 

The  Eoman  school-boy  learned  by  heart  the  Twelve 
Tables  of  the  Law.     His  teachers  were  not  satisfied  with 
a  mere  knowledge  of  the  words  ;  they  insisted    Teaching 
that  he  should  understand  the  meaning  of  the     the  }&w- 
law,  and  apply  it  in  regulating  his  own  conduct  and 
in  passing  judgment  upon  the  conduct  of  others.     Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  Eoman  people  became  the  ex- 
ponents of  law  and  order  throughout  the  civilized  world, 
and  that  Eoman  jurisprudence  still  exerts  a  moulding 

*  John  xii.  24,  Revised  Version. 


186  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

influence  upon  the  legislation  of  the  Latin  races,  if  not 
of  the  entire  civilised  world  ? 

There  is  still  another  nation  of  antiquity  whose  youth 
were  instructed  in  the  law  with  the  most  scrupulous  care. 
The  Ten  Commandments  of  the  Mosaic  Law  were  com- 
mitted to  memory.  In  Chapter  VI.,  6-9,  of  Deuteron- 
omy, we  read:  "And  these  words,  which  I  command 
thee  this  day,  shall  be  in  thine  heart :  and  thou  shalt 
teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk 
of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when  thou 
walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when 
thou  risest  up.  And  thou  shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon 
thine  hand,  and  they  shall  be  as  frontlets  between  thine 
eyes-J'  Verse  18  of  Chapter  XI.  is  still  more  explicit : 
"  Therefore  shall  ye  lay  up  these  my  words  in  your  heart 
and  in  your  soul,  and  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  your 
hand,  that  they  may  be  as  frontlets  between  your  eyes." 

The  exact  words  of  the  law  were  to  be  fixed  in  the 
memory,  and  kept  both  before  the  bodily  and  mental  eye 
until  they  passed  into  the  deeds  and  conduct  of  every-day 
life.  In  John  vii.  49  we  find  the  same  thought :  "This 
people  who  knoweth  not  the  law  are  cursed."  This 
was  the  universal  conviction  of  the  Jewish  people  after 
the  Babylonian  exile,  if  not  before.  The  reading  of  the 
Talmud  has  been  likened  unto  travelling  through  endless 
galleries  of  lumber,  where  the  air  is  darkened  and  the 
lungs  are  well-nigh  asphyxiated  with  the  rising  dust. 
On  one  point,  however,  the  Jewish  Eabbis  speak  with 
the  authority  and  earnestness  of  those  who  know  whereof 
they  affirm.  "To  the  Law  !"  is  the  exhortation  sounded 
abroad  in  every  key.  "Let  your  house,"  says  one,  "  be 
a  house  of  assembly  for  those  wise  in  the  law ;  let  your- 
self be  dusted  by  the  dust  of  their  feet,  and  drink  eagerly 
their  teaching. "  "  Make  the  study  of  the  law  thy  special 
business,"  says  another.  "The  more  teaching  of  the 


THE  MEMORY  AND    THINKING.  187 

law,"  says  a  third,  "the  more  life  ;  the  more  school,  the 
more  wisdom  ;  the  more  counsel,  the  more  reasonable 
action.  He  who  gains  a  knowledge  of  the  law  gains  life 
in  the  world  to  come." 

Maxims  like  the  following  show  the  stress  that  was 
laid  upon  exercises  designed  to  bring  out  the  full  force 
and  import  of  the  law  :  "When  two  sit  together  and  do 
not  converse  about  the  law,  they  are  an  assembly  of 
scorners,  of  which  it  is  said,  '  Sit  not  in  the  seat  of  the 
scorners.'  When,  however,  two  sit  together  and  con- 
verse about  the  law,  the  Shechinah  (the  Divine  Presence) 
is  present  among  them. "  "  When  three  eat  together  at 
one  table,  and  do  not  converse  about  the  law,  it  is  as 
though  they  ate  of  the  offerings  of  the  dead.  But  when 
three  eat  together  at  one  table  and  converse  about  the 
law,  it  is  as  though  they  ate  at  the  table  of  God."  "  The 
following  are  things  whose  interest  is  enjoyed  in  this 
world,  while  the  capital  remains  for  the  world  to  come  ; 
Eeverence  for  fathers  and  mothers,  benevolence,  peace- 
making among  neighbors,  and  the  study  of  the  law  above 
them  all." 

It  is  very  apparent  that  the  chosen  people  were  not 
satisfied  with  mere  memorizing  of  the  law.  Their  teachers 
sought  to  make  it  a  living,  regulative  force  in  all  the 
relations  of  man.  Their  practice  emphasized  a  phase  of 
memory  work  which  should  be  borne  in  mind  whenever 
pupils  are  requested  to  learn  by  heart  any  form  of  words 
or  selection  of  literature.  Words  have  no  value  so  long 
as  they  remain  mere  words.  When  words  convey  the 
intended  meaning,  the  more  perfect  the  form  in  which 
they  are  joined  together  the  deeper  and  more  lasting  is 
the  impression  made  upon  the  mind  of  the  learner.  The 
thoughts  which  have  been  transmitted  in  forms  fixed  for 
ages  may  not  produce  a  harvest  of  new  thought  and 
linguistic  expression,  but  may  issue  in  feeling  and  will, 


188  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

in  lofty  emotions  and  noble  purposes,  in  heroic  deeds 
and  unselfish  devotion,  in  righteousness  and  right  con- 
duct far  more  valuable  than  mediocre  effusions  of  prose 
and  poetry,  or  many  of  the  speculations  of  scientists  and 
philosophers. 

Thoughts  that  are  to  regulate  conduct  and  life  may  be 
remembered  in  the  form  in  which  a  nation  has  treasured 

seed-  them  for  ages.  If  thoughts  are  to  become  seed- 
thoughts,  thoughts,  their  form  must  be  changed  through 
the  process  of  growth ;  otherwise  no  crop  of  new 
thoughts  can  mature.  The  expression,  seed-thoughts,  is 
a  figure  of  speech  based  upon  vegetable  life.  The  mind 
may  be  likened  unto  soil  that  has  become  fertile  through 
the  labor  and  skill  of  the  husbandman.  The  mind  grows 
fertile  and  productive  by  cultivation.  Like  the  sower 
going  forth  to  sow,  the  good  teacher  deposits  in  the 
youthful  mind  ideas  which  germinate  and  bring  forth  a 
harvest  of  thought,  sentiment,  and  purpose.  If  the  grain 
of  wheat  be  cut  in  pieces,  and  then  put  into  the  soil, 
there  can  be  no  growth,  because  the  life  has  been  de- 
stroyed. The  ideas  which  the  teacher  instils  into  the 
minds  of  the  pupils  should  be  living  ideas.  Their  vital- 
ity should  not  be  destroyed  by  dissection  into  fragments 
from  which  all  life  has  departed.  Sunshine  and  moisture 
are  conditions  of  growth.  Lack  of  sympathy  is  lack  of 
sunshine.  Cold  natures  have  an  Arctic  effect  in  stunting 
and  preventing  growth.  Again,  instruction  may  be  so 
dry  that  nothing  can  thrive  under  its  influence.  Like  a 
drought,  it  may  speedily  evaporate  the  child's  love  of 
school  and  interest  in  study.  "Weeds  may  choke  the 
growing  crop.  These  the  husbandman  removes  and  de- 
stroys, so  that  the  good  seed  may  have  a  chance  to  ripen. 
With  equal  solicitude  the  faithful  teacher  watches  the 
development  of  the  seed-thoughts  which  are  sprouting  in 
the  mind.  For  a  time  the  seed  is  hid  in  the  earth.  Seed- 


THE  MEMORY  AND   THINKING.  189 

thoughts  disappear  in  the  unconscious  depths  of  the  soul. 
They  are  not  lost.  By  processes  which  we  cannot  ex- 
plain, they  sprout  and  grow  and  ripen.  That  such  mys- 
terious processes  are  going  forward  in  the  hidden  depths 
of  the  soul  cannot  be  doubted.  A  process  of  growth  may 
be  unseen  ;  its  visible  results  are  evidence  that  it  exists 
and  is  going  forward.  If  the  soil  be  barren  or  the  con- 
ditions of  growth  be  wanting,  no  harvest  is  possible. 
Unfortunately,  the  unskilful  husbandman  always  blames 
the  soil  and  the  weather  when  he  himself  is  at  fault. 
Unfortunate  is  the  pupil  whose  teacher  is  a  fossil,  devoid 
of  life  and  the  power  to  infuse  life.  Under  such  a 
teacher  the  pupil  always  gets  the  blame. 


XII 

IMAGING  AND   THINKING 


191 


Things  more  excellent  than  any  image  are  expressed  through 

JAMBLICHDS. 

An  unimaginative  person  can  neither  be  reverent  nor  kind. 

RUSKIN. 

Few  men  nave  imagination  enough  for  the  truth  of  i  eality. 

GOETHE. 

Science  does  not  know  its  debt  to  the  imagination. 

EMERSON. 

The  human  race  is  governed  by  its  imagination. 

NAPOLEON. 


192 


XII 
IMAGING  AND   THINKING 

EVERY  human  being  divides  the  world  into  two  parts, 
the  self  and  the  not-self.  It  would  not  be  right  to  say 
that  he  divides  the  world  into  two  hemispheres,  because 
self  may  occupy  more  space  and  engross  more  thought 
than  all  else  in  the  universe. 

The  idea  of  self  is  complex.  It  includes  our  thoughts, 
emotions,  and  purposes.  Kindred  and  friends,  home  and 
country,  creed  and  occupation,  dress  and  per- 
sonal appearance,  possessions  and  the  work  one 
has  done, — in  fact,  all  one  has  and  is  and  does  enters  into 
the  idea  of  self.  "When  we  lose  a  child,  a  manuscript,  an 
investment,  a  position,  we  are  apt  to  feel  as  if  a  part  of 
ourselves  had  been  lost.  So  closely  are  the  things  of  self 
identified  with  the  inner  self,  the  self  in  the  narrowest 
signification  of  the  term,  that  the  latter  is  oftentimes  lost 
in  the  former ;  and  the  end  of  existence  is  sought  in 
wealth,  fame,  honor,  social  position,  erudition,  and  the 
thousand  other  things  which  intensify  the  feeling  of  self 
by  giving  it  form  and  content. 

An  important  element  in  the  thought  of  self  is  the 
image  of  self  that  every  man  carries  in  his  own  mind. 
This  image  of  self  is  derived  from  looking-     image  of 
glasses  and    photographs,    from  the  sight  of        self- 
hands  and  feet  and  the  other  impressions  of  the  physical 
organism  which  reach  the  mind  through  the  senses.     In 
the  minds  of  many  persons  the  image  of  self  is  ever  pres- 
ent, it  matters  not  whether  they  are  eating  or  drinking, 
walking  or  talking,  singing  or  thinking,  posing  or  work- 
is  193 


194  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ing.  The  perpetual  presence  of  the  image  of  self  gives 
rise  to  vanity  and  pride,  to  avarice,  ambition,  and  other 
detestable  forms  of  selfishness. 

It  is  the  province  of  education  to  bring  self  and  the 
things  of  self  into  proper  relation  with  the  not-self,  with 
God  and  the  universe.  That  this  may  be  accomplished 
the  images  of  sense  and  the  idea  of  self  must  be  made  to 
take  their  proper  place  in  the  domain  of  thought  and 
volition. 

Not  many  years  ago  it  was  customary  in  certain  quar- 
ters to  define  education  as  the  process  of  unsensing  the 
Education  mind  and  unselfing  the  will.  The  definition 
defined.  never  became  popular.  It  contains  a  truth  and 
an  error,  both  deserving  of  careful  consideration.  The 
maxim  may  signify  that  by  the  process  of  education  the 
soul  is  to  be  emancipated  from  the  tyranny  of  the  senses 
and  from  the  domination  of  selfish  desires.  The  mind 
may  be  hindered  in  its  growth  because  it  is  under  the 
thraldom  of  desire  and  appetite.  Excess  in  eating  and 
drinking,  in  sight-seeing,  and  in  other  pleasures  which 
so  easily  ripen  into  dissipation  may  check  the  normal 
development  of  the  higher  faculties.  The  delight  which 
some  gifted  natures  find  in  beautiful  colors  and  good 
music  may  prevent  them  from  acquiring  the  power  of 
abstract  and  abstruse  thinking.  The  things  of  the  mind 
may  be  sacrificed  to  the  things  of  sense,  the  higher  life 
of  the  soul  may  be  stifled  through  the  exaltation  of  self 
and  the  domination  of  selfish  desires. 

What  is  meant  by  unsensing  the  mind  f  It  may  mean, 
for  instance,  that  the  student  of  arithmetic  is  to  be  freed 
unsensing  from  the  necessity  of  counting  strokes  or  fingers 
the  mind.  jn  finding  the  sum  or  the  product  of  two  num- 
bers ;  that  the  learner  is  to  get  away  from  the  cats  and 
dogs  of  the  First  Eeader  as  soon  as  possible  ;  that  he  is  to 
be  lifted  by  education  to  the  plane  on  which  he  can  think 


IMAGING   AND    THINKING.  195 

in  abstract  and  general  terms.  In  this  sense  it  is  correct 
to  say  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  education  to  unsense  the 
mind.  The  phrase  may  also  be  interpreted  to  imply  that 
the  habit  of  thinking  by  means  of  visual  images  is  to  be 
got  rid  of.  In  this  sense  it  is  a  dangerous  maxim. 

The  first  thinking  of  children  is  carried  on  in  mental 
pictures.  It  is  one  of  the  aims  of  the  school  to  lift  the 
learner  above  this  necessity  of  thinking  in  things  by  en- 
abling him  to  think  in  symbols.  These  symbols  are  in 
their  turn  visualized  ;  and  we  may  have  specimens  of  ar- 
rested development  in  the  use  of  figures  as  well  as  in  the 
use  of  fingers,  blocks,  or  other  objects  employed  in  teach- 
ing the  fundamental  operations  of  integers  and  fractions. 
The  principal  of  a  well-known  ward  school  aimed  at  great 
speed  in  arithmetical  calculations.  The  results  which  his 
teachers  obtained  excited  surprise  and  admira-  Arrested 
tion.  \The  test  of  progress  was  the  number  of 


digits  that  a  pupil  could  add,  or  subtract,  or 
multiply,  or  divide  in  a  minute.  The  danger  of  this  in- 
struction became  apparent  when  it  was  found  that  of  five 
or  six  hundred  children  drilled  in  that  way  only  one  ever 
reached  the  high  school,  and  she  was  only  a  third-rate 
student,  who  never  acquired  skill  or  proficiency  in  think- 
ing in  abstract  and  general  terms.  Mental  energy  was 
exhausted  in  the  attempt  to  develop  lightning  calculators. 
There  was  no  growth  in  the  direction  of  thinking  the 
laws  and  truths  which  make  knowledge  scientific. 

The  untutored  savage  is  guided  by  sense  impressions  ; 
he  thinks  in  mental  pictures  ;  he  is  incapable  of  a 
chain  of  reasoning  like  the  demonstration  of  a  The  think. 
theorem  in  geometry.  Tribes  have  been  found  ing  of  sav- 
who  could  not  count  beyond  three  ;  any  num-  ages- 
ber  in  excess  of  two  was  called  many  or  a  multitude. 
Whilst  their  powers  of  observation  were  developed  to  a 
remarkable  degree,  they  lacked  the  power  of  abstruse 


196  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

thought.  Their  descendants,  who  are  now  at  school, 
make  rapid  progress  in  knowledge  which  appeals  to  the 
senses ;  they  find  more  than  the  usual  difficulty  in 
studies  requiring  demonstrative  reasoning  or  sustained 
effort  in  scientific  thought.  Music  is  their  delight ;  they 
can  be  taught  to  sing  like  birds  in  the  air  j  their  bands 
give  sighs  to  brass  itself.  As  in  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Iroquois,  who  would  not  submit  to  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity,  were  overcome  by  concerts,  so,  in  the  nine- 
teenth, the  missionaries  of  British  Columbia  appeal  to 
the  red  man' s  ear  for  music  in  winning  him  for  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

Language  is  full  of  faded  metaphors  which  show  how 
the  things  of  the  mind  are  conceived  in  images  formed 
through  the  senses.  Those  who  address  popular  audi- 
Popuiar  ences  clothe  their  thoughts  in  figures  of  speech 
audiences,  based  upon  the  mental  pictures  in  which  the 
common  people  carry  on  their  thinking.  The  ability 
to  think  in  the  language  of  science  and  philosophy  is 
a  later  development,  and  those  who  by  disuse  or  neglect 
impair  their  power  to  think  in  sense-images  pay  a  penalty 
in  losing,  or  never  acquiring,  the  power  to  move  the 
multitudes. 

The  power  to  think  in  mental  pictures,  or  through 
the  sense-impressions  which  memory  recalls,  varies  in 

Mental  different  persons.  Occasionally  the  sense  of 
pictures,  touch  is  very  active  ;  the  child  in  such  cases 
manifests  a  desire  to  handle  everything  within  reach,  and 
undoubtedly  gains  impressions  of  peculiar  strength 
answering  its  desire  to  know.  A  limited  number  of  chil- 
dren in  every  school  get  their  best  impressions  through 
the  ear,  and  hence  are  said  to  be  ear-minded ;  but  the 
far  larger  proportion  are  eye-minded  to  the  extent 
of  connecting  their  most  accurate  knowledge  with  images 
obtained  through  vision.  Similar  peculiarities  exist 


IMAGING  AND   THINKING.  197 

among  older  persons.  A  friend  claims  that  he  hears  the 
voices  of  speakers  while  reading  the  proof-sheets  of  their 
speeches  Another  friend  claims  that  he  cannot  bring  up 
a  mental  picture  of  the  faces  of  his  children  and  his 
friends,  but  he  writes  out  strains  of  music  which  he 
thinks  and  hears  while  seated  on  railway  cars.  The 
power  of  bringing  up  a  vivid  picture  of  the  breakfast- 
table,  or  of  some  scene  of  special  interest,  is  possessed  by 
many  persons.  \  They  live  over  again  in  memory  the  de- 
lights of  travel,  and  enjoy  scenery  through  the  vivid 
mental  pictures  stored  away  in  the  treasure-house  of 
memory.  The  ability  to  appreciate  the  best  literature 
in  prose  and  poetry  depends  largely  upon  the  power  of 
visualizing  the  realities  at  the  basis  of  the  descriptions  and 
figures  of  speech.  Francis  Galton  thinks  that  the  per- 
spicuous style  of  French  literature  and  the  wonderful 
manual  skill  of  the  French  people  is  due  to  their  power 
of  thinking  in  visual  images.  He  says, — 

"The  French  appear  to  possess  the  visualizing  faculty 
in  a  high  degree.  The  peculiar  ability  they  show  in 
prearranging  ceremonials  and  fetes  of  all  kinds  The 
and  their  undoubted  genius  for  tactics  and  French, 
strategy  show  that  they  are  able  to  foresee  effects  with 
unusual  clearness.  Their  ingenuity  in  all  technical  con- 
trivances is  an  additional  testimony  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  so  is  their  singular  clearness  of  expression. 
Their  phrase  '  figurez-vous, '  or  '  picture  to  yourself,' 
seems  to  express  their  dominant  mode  of  perception. 
Our  equivalent  of  '  imagine'  is  ambiguous."  * 

The  profession  of  teaching  owes  Mr.  Galton  a  special 
debt  of  gratitude  for  the  light  which  his  investigations 
throw  upon  the  process  of  thinking.  These  investiga- 
tions were  published  in  a  volume  entitled  "Inquiries 

*F.  Gallon's  "  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty,"  pages  100,  101. 


198  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

into    Human    Faculty."      When  lie  began  to  inquire 

among  his  friends  as  to  their  power  to  call  up  mental 

Gaiton's     pictures  of  the  breakfast-table,  those  engaged 

investiga-    in  scientific  pursuits  were  inclined  to  consider 

tions.  kim  fancifui  an(j  fantastic  in  supposing  that  the 
words  mental  imagery  really  expressed  what  he  thought 
everybody  supposed  them  to  mean.  He  says  they  had  no 
more  notion  of  its  true  nature  than  a  color-blind  man  who 
has  not  discerned  his  defect  has  of  the  nature  of  color. 
When  he  spoke  to  persons  in  general  society,  he  got  very 
different  replies.  Among  other  curious  things  which  he 
discovered,  he  found  that  the  power  of  thinking  in 
sense-images,  or  mental  pictures,  may  be  partly  in- 
herited, partly  developed  by  practice,  and  that  it  may 
be  impaired  by  disuse  or  by  the  habit  of  hard  thinking 
peculiar  to  men  engaged  in  scientific  pursuits.  Scientific 
men,  as  a  class,  have  feeble  powers  of  visual  representa- 
tion. He  reached  the  conclusion  that  "an  over-ready 
perception  of  sharp  mental  pictures  is  antagonistic  to  the 
acquirement  of  highly  generalized  and  abstract  thought, 
especially  when  the  steps  of  reasoning  are  carried  on  by 
words  as  symbols,  and  that  if  the  faculty  of  seeing  the 
pictures  was  ever  possessed  by  men  who  think  hard,  it  is 
very  apt  to  be  lost  by  disuse." 

He  further  claims  that  the  visualizing  faculty  can  be 
developed  by  education.  This  is  very  significant.  It 

Wrong  shows  how  unwise  methods  may  harm  our  chil- 
methods.  <jren  jn  £wo  directions.  The  wrong  method 
may  keep  the  mind  at  work  in  the  concrete  when  the 
science  under  consideration  demands  more  advanced  and 
very  different  methods  of  thought.  In  the  other  direc- 
tion the  mind  may  be  tied  to  words,  descriptions,  book 
methods,  and  symbolic  representations,  whereas  the 
thinking  which  one's  future  duties  demand  points  in  the 
direction  of  drawing,  mechanics,  and  handicrafts,  in 


IMAGING  AND    THINKING.  199 

which  success  turns  upon  the  power  of  thinking  in  visual 
images  and  mental  pictures.  One  cannot  forbear  quoting 
his  language  in  so  far  as  it  bears  upon  the  thinking  de- 
veloped by  schools  for  manual  training  in  distinction 
from  the  thinking  developed  by  the  university  which 
aims  to  fit  its  students  for  the  professions  and  for  scien- 
tific thought  and  experimental  research. 

11  There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  utility  of 
the  visualizing  faculty  when  it  is  duly  subordinated  to 
the  higher  intellectual  operations.  A  visual  Thinking 
image  is  the  most  perfect  form  of  mental  repre-  in  ima^es- 
sentation  wherever  the  shape,  position,  and  relations  of 
objects  in  space  are  concerned.  It  is  of  importance  in 
every  handicraft  and  profession  where  design  is  required. 
The  best  workmen  are  those  who  visualize  the  whole  of 
what  they  propose  to  do  before  they  take  a  tool  in  their 
hands.  The  village  smith  and  the  carpenter  who  are 
employed  on  odd  jobs  employ  it  no  less  for  their  work 
than  the  mechanician,  the  engineer,  and  the  architect. 
The  lady's  maid  who  arranges  a  new  dress  requires  it 
for  the  same  reason  as  the  decorator  employed  on  a 
palace,  or  the  agent  who  lays  out  great  estates.  Strate- 
gists, artists  of  all  denominations,  physicists  who  con- 
trive new  experiments,  and,  in  short,  all  who  do  not 
follow  routine,  have  need  of  it.  The  pleasure  its  use 
can  afford  is  immense.  I  have  many  correspondents  who 
say  that  the  delight  of  recalling  beautiful  scenery  and 
great  works  of  art  is  the  highest  that  they  know ;  they 
carry  whole  picture-galleries  in  their  minds.  Our  book- 
ish and  wordy  education  tends  to  repress  this  valuable 
gift  of  nature.  A  faculty  that  is  of  importance  in  all 
technical  and  artistic  occupations,  that  gives  accuracy  to 
our  perceptions,  and  justness  to  our  generalizations  is 
starved  by  lazy  disuse  instead  of  being  cultivated  judi- 
ciously in  such  a  way  as  will,  on  the  whole,  bring  the 


200  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

best  return,  I  believe  that  a  serious  study  of  the  best 
method  of  developing  and  utilizing  this  faculty,  without 
prejudice  to  the  practice  of  abstract  thought  in  symbols, 
is  one  of  the  many  pressing  desiderata  in  the  yet  un- 
formed science  of  education."  * 

What  is  meant  by  the  process  of  unselfing  the  will? 
If  the  maxim  is  interpreted  to  mean  that  education  must 
eliminate  the  selfishness  of  the  individual,  and  teach  him 
to  will  and  act  for  the  good  of  humanity,  especially  of  all 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact,  the  maxim  points  out  an 
important  end  of  education.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
maxim  is  made  to  mean  that  the  self,  with  its  peculiari- 
ties, is  to  be  sacrificed  in  the  educative  process,  it  carries 
a  contradiction  on  its  face.  The  lower  self  may  have  to 
be  sacrificed  in  order  that  the  higher  self  may  be  con- 
served. He  that  loseth  his  life  shall  save  it ;  he  that 
saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  is  the  teaching  of  Holy  "Writ. 

Open  a  dictionary  and  search  for  words  indicating  how 
the  belief  in  the  necessity  of  emancipating  life  from  the 
dominion  of  self  has  been  woven  into  the  very  texture 
of  the  English  language.  Egotism,  which  originally 
meant  the  excessive  use  of  the  pronoun  I,  has  come  to 
signify  all  kinds  of  self-praise,  self-exaltation,  and  to 
include  all  manner  of  parading  one's  virtues  and  excel- 
lencies ;  egoism  denotes  a  state  of  mind  in  which  the 
feelings  are  concentrated  on  self.  Vanity  and  self-conceit 
are  two  words  closely  allied  to  the  natural  selfishness  of 
the  human  heart.  The  former  indicates  the  feeling  which 
springs  from  the  thought  that  we  are  highly  esteemed 
by  others  ;  the  latter  is  an  overweening  opinion  of  one's 
talents,  capacities,  and  importance.  There  is  another 
list  of  compound  words,  like  self-denial,  self-sacrifice, 
self-abnegation,  which  point  to  the  importance  of  elimi- 

*  F.  Gallon's  "  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty,"  pages  113,  114. 


IMAGING   AND   THINKING.  201 

nating  self  and  thoughts  of  self  from  the  soul's  activities 
in  thinking  and  willing.  Virtues  like  humility,  love, 
service,  sacrifice,  are  lauded  in  every  Christian  land. 
They  are  the  Christian  virtues  exemplified  by  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  who  lived  to  do  good  to  others,  and  who  died 
that  the  sinning,  sorrowing  millions  on  earth  might  find 
peace  and  consolation  for  their  troubled  souls. 

The  unselfing  of  the  will  depends  as  much  upon  right 
thinking  as  does  the  unsensing  of  the  mind.  The  un- 
trained mind  deals  too  much  with  things  near  at  hand  in 
the  objective  world  j  the  uneducated  will  deals  too  much 
with  the  thing  nearest  to  every  man  in  the  subjective 
world, — the  individual  self.  The  thought  of  self  may 
enter  so  thoroughly  into  the  feelings  and  activities  of  the 
soul  that  the  rights  of  others  are  never  thought 

Selfishness. 

of  in  the  gratification  of  self  and  in  the  efforts 
at  self-aggrandizement  and  self-glorification.  Selfish  de- 
sire and  selfish  ambition  may  dominate  the  soul  and 
cause  the  individual  to  trample  upon  the  dearest  rights 
of  others.  The  millions  which  some  men  heap  up  are 
squeezed  from  the  productive  toil  of  thousands,  perhaps 
millions,  of  human  hands.  Colossal  fortunes  can  seldom 
be  made  without  reducing  a  considerable  number  of 
human  beings  to  a  condition  of  living  from  hand  to 
mouth,  to  a  state  of  chronic  poverty.  That  the  inordi- 
nate ambition  of  a  masterful  politician  may  be  gratified, 
the  hopes  of  other  aspirants  must  be  frustrated  and  their 
rights  must  be  trampled  upon.  Hence  in  the  end  there 
is  little  happiness  among  office-holders  and  office-seekers. 
The  selfishness  of  great  conquerors  is  still  more  inex- 
cusable. In  the  effort  to  gratify  an  unholy  ambition  the 
lives  of  thousands  are  sacrificed,  their  blood  is  spilt  upon 
the  battle-field,  and  their  health  is  undermined  by  suffer- 
ing and  disease.  If  the  men  who  send  the  soldier  to  the 
front  were  themselves  compelled  to  sleep  in  ditches,  or  to 


202  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

expose  themselves  to  the  fire  of  machine-guns  upon  the 
open  field,  wars  would  not  be  declared,  or,  if  declared, 
would  soon  cease. 

The  higher  life  demands  that  the  lower  self  be  subor- 
dinated, regulated  and  sublimated  in  the  education  of 
self-  man.  The  individual  may  be  taught  to  find 
sacrifice,  happiness  in  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  others, 
in  deeds  of  love,  charity,  and  benevolence.  That  this 
may  result  from  the  educative  process,  there  should 
occur  a  change  of  heart,  resulting  in  a  change  of  view 
and  in  a  transformation  of  the  habits  of  thought  so 
that  self  is  seen  in  its  true  relation  to  mankind  and  to 
God,  so  that  the  things  of  time  and  sense  shall  stand  in 
true  relation  to  the  verities  of  eternity  and  the  interests 
of  the  higher  life. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  maxim  is  interpreted  to 
mean  that  any  gifts  or  powers  of  the  self  are  to  be  sacri- 
ficed in  preparation  for  a  given  calling,  say  for  the  army 
or  navy,  it  becomes  a  dangerous  heresy.  The  true  end 
seif-devei-  °f  education  is  found  in  the  harmonious  devel- 
opment, opment  of  all  our  faculties.  Every  man  is  in 
one  sense  the  product  of  countless  ages  and  generations, 
and  from  another  point  of  view  he  is  a  new  creation 
fresh  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker,  and  a  distinct  setting 
forth  of  the  creative  power  of  Him  who  said,  "Let  us 
make  man  in  our  own  image,  after  our  likeness."  As 
such  he  has  a  claim  upon  immortality,  as  well  as  upon 
all  the  help  which  earth  can  give  him  towards  a  full 
realization  of  self.  Every  person  feels  that  there  are 
possibilities  of  his  being  which  are  never  realized  in  this 
world  j  that  it  will  require  the  ceaseless  ages  of  eternity 
to  unfold  and  mature  his  God-given  powers  and  traits. 
Any  unselfing  of  the  will  in  the  sense  of  sacrificing  or 
checking  the  'growth  and  fruition  of  the  best  of  which 
the  self  is  capable,  is  a  violation  of  Spencer's  famous 


IMAGING   AND    THINKING.  203 

definition  that  education  is  a  preparation  for  complete 
living. 

What,  then,  is  the  relation  of  the  imaging  power  to 
the  proper  unselfing  of  the  will  and  the  full  realization 
of  the  self?  "A  great  deal  of  the  selfishness  of  the 
world  comes  not  from  bad  hearts,  but  from  languid 
imaginations."  *  To  do  justice  to  others,  we  must  put 
ourselves  in  their  place.  This  we  cannot  do  except 
through  the  exercise  of  the  imagination.  The  justice  to 
imagination  is  the  creative  power  of  the  mind,  others. 
By  means  of  it  we  can  create  for  our  thinking  the 
world  in  which  our  neighbor  lives,  and  learn  to  under- 
stand his  motives,  aims,  hopes,  needs,  and  temptations. 
This  will  keep  us  from  many  a  mistake  in  judging  his 
conduct  and  estimating  his  character.  Moreover,  this 
thinking  of  ourselves  into  the  life  and  surroundings  of 
our  fellow-men  is  a  condition  of  success  in  dealing  with 
them.  It  helps  the  merchant  to  sell  his  wares  and  the 
teacher  to  govern  his  pupils.  It  helps  the  orator  to 
reach  the  hearts  of  the  audience  whom  he  is  address- 
ing, and  the  journalist  to  write  editorials  that  will  modify 
the  views  and  mould  the  thinking  of  the  reading  public. 
Every  profession  and  every  occupation  requires  the  con- 
stant exercise  of  the  imagination  so  that  we  may  see  life 
from  our  neighbor' s  point  of  view,  and,  in  sympathizing 
with  him.  or  helping  him,  outgrow  our  innate  selfishness. 
A  hard,  cruel,  unforgiving  man  makes  a  failure  of  life 
even  though  he  win  riches,  fame,  and  public  position. 

By  means  of  the  imagination  we  paint  ideals  of  life  and 
conduct,  which  hover  before  tlie  mind  in  the 

,..,,.  ,         ,        Ideals. 

hour  of  struggle  and  trial,  luring  us  onward  and 
upward,  spurring  us  to  greater  effort,  and  giving  to  life 
added  charms  and  glories.     Without  the  power  to  im- 

*  James  Freeman  Clarke's  "  Self-Culture,"  page  183. 


204  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

agine  what  is  beyond  the  real,  the  workman  sinks  to  the 
level  of  drudgery,  and  never  rises  to  the  plane  of  artistic 
production. 

The  imagination  is  very  active  in  children.     Watch 

their  plays  if  you  would  see  how  they  convert  a  stick  into 

The  child's  a  h°rse>  ^e  play-house  into  a  home,  and  mimic 

imagina-    the  drama  of  life  in  their  games  and  contests. 

tion.  Their  life  is  largely  make-believe  and  thinking 
in  images.  This  tendency  to  think  in  images  can  be 
utilized  in  the  lessons  in  arithmetic,  geometry,  geography, 
and  history.  Without  the  combination  of  images  into 
new  forms  and  products,  the  pupil  cannot  think  the 
thoughts  peculiar  to  these  branches.  For  in- 
stance, the  lesson  in  geography  starts  with  what 
the  child  has  seen  or  can  see  at  home,  and  proceeds  to 
that  which  is  away  from  home,  using  pictures,  drawings, 
lantern-slides,  and  vivid  descriptions  to  aid  the  imagina- 
tion in  picturing  scenery,  cities,  countries,  and  forms  of 
life  in  other  parts  of  the  globe.  It  may  be  a  question 
what  the  mind  should  think  in  connection  with  the  sym- 
bols and  truths  of  that  science.  The  form  of  a  continent 
is  without  doubt  best  conceived  as  given  on  a  map.  For 
many  practical  purposes,  cities  may  be  thought  as  mere 
starting-points  and  halting-places  in  a  journey.  Many  a 
river  is  for  mature  minds  a  winding  black  line  on  colored 
surfaces  called  maps.  Nevertheless,  if  geography  means 
for  a  pupil  no  more  than  this,  it  will  be  dry  and  unin- 
teresting indeed.  Out  of  the  images  of  things  observed 
the  mind  should  be  led  to  construct  images  of  what  it 
has  not  seen.  These  images  are  never  an  adequate  pic- 
ture of  the  foreign  city  or  country,  even  after  they  have 
been  supplemented  or  modified  by  visits  to  museums, 
conservatories,  and  zoological  gardens,  by  excursions  to 
the  field,  the  forest,  and  the  factory,  or  even  by  travel  at 
home  and  abroad.  The  thoughts  of  a  country  that  one 


IMAGING  AND   THINKING.  205 

•has  journeyed  through,  or  lived  in  for  a  time,  consist 
partly  of  images  and  partly  of  symbolic  representations. 
Since  thinking  in  images  is  easier  for  beginners  than 
thinking  in  symbols,  the  instruction  in  geography  should 
begin  with  child-life  at  home,  with  the  things  on  the 
breakfast-table,  with  the  garments  worn  and  the  means 
of  transportation  used,  and  proceed  from  these  to  the 
life,  the  home,  the  dress,  and  the  sports  of  children  living 
in  other  lands  and  other  climes.  The  lessons  in 
geography  make  constant  appeals  to  the  imagination, 
and  call  for  thinking  in  images  or  mental-pictures  in 
connection  with  map-symbols  and  the  discussions  of 
causes  and  laws. 

Not  less  valuable  is  the  power  of  imaging  in  the  study 
of  history.  Many  details  are  worthless  and  meaningless 
until  the  imagination  weaves  them  into  a  fabric 
in  which  their  relations  and  significance  be- 
come apparent.  So  far  as  the  trend  of  history  is  con- 
cerned, it  would  have  mattered  very  little  if  the  name  of 
the  ship  in  which  the  Pilgrim  fathers  sailed  had  been 
Aprilshower  instead  of  Mayflower,  if  the  number  of  pas- 
sengers had  been  one  hundred  and  one  instead  of  exactly 
one  hundred,  if  they  had  landed  at  some  place  other 
than  Plymouth  Rock.  Their  coming,  their  compact, 
their  religious  life  and  purposes  were  of  chief  importance. 
Details  help  to  fill  out  the  mental  picture  of  their  voyage, 
landing,  and  settlement.  They  throw  a  halo  of  interest 
around  the  central  event,  or  germinal  idea.  Or,  to  change 
the  figure,  they  furnish  the  scaffolding  by  means  of  which 
the  teacher  gradually  raises  the  edifice  of  historical 
knowledge.  After  the  edifice  has  been  completed  the 
scaffolding  may  be  removed.  After  the  essential  or  cen- 
tral idea  has  been  grasped  and  fixed,  details  like  the  name 
of  the  ship,  the  number  of  emigrants,  and  the  exact  day 
of  their  arrival  may  be  forgotten.  The  mind  can  often 


206  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

unload  the  luggage  that  is  not  absolutely  needed,  and 
move  with  more  ease  and  speed  into  new  fields  of  thought 
and  investigation. 

Geometry  has  been  aptly  styled  eine  Augenwissen- 

schaft,  "a  science  of  the  eye"  (the  last  word  being  used 

not  as  the  object  with  which  the  science  deals, 

Geometry. 

but  as  the  means  by  which  its  ideas  are  ac- 
quired). The  line  drawn  upon  the  black-board  has 
breadth,  and  is  not  at  all  a  mathematical  line.  Through 
the  eye  it  serves  to  suggest  the  line  which  has  length 
without  breadth  or  thickness.  Progress  in  solid  geome- 
try is  impossible  if  the  mind  does  not  image  or  conceive 
the  volumes  of  three  dimensions  indicated  by  the  draw- 
ings on  a  surface  which  has  but  two  dimensions.  In 
arithmetic  many  of  the  business  transactions  upon  which 

the  problems  are  based  have  not  come  into  the 

Arithmetic.  .  *.«.       -u'ui   i.  J.T.  IJT. 

experience  of  the  child,  but  must  be  evolved  by 
appeals  to  the  imagination  if  the  solutions  are  to  be 
brought  within  easy  reach  of  the  understanding.  The 
power  of  combining  images  into  new  forms  aids  greatly 
in  the  construction  of  apparatus  and  in  the  making  of 
experiments.  It  helps  the  scientist  to  evolve  his  theories 
and  hypotheses.  It  is  the  faculty  by  which  man  becomes 
a  creator  in  science,  art,  literature,  and  philosophy. 

Few  suggestions  for  the  exercise  of  the  creative  imagi- 
nation can  be  given.  Here  rules  are  more  of  a  hinderance 
creative  than  a  help.  The  imagination  is  not  creative 
imagina-  in  the  sense  of  evolving  something  out  of 

tlon'  nothing,— this  notion  has  misled  many  in  their 
estimate  of  genius, — but  in  the  sense  of  producing  that 
which  never  existed,  at  least  for  the  individual  himself. 
Its  activity  has  been  denominated  plastic  from  the  fact 
that  it  moulds  and  fashions  the  materials  or  images  into 
the  forms  which  the  new  product  is  to  assume.  The  in- 
fluence of  judgment  is  needed  to  keep  the  imagination 


IMAGING  AND    THINKING.  207 

from  violating  the  laws  and  principles  inherent  in  the 
things  from  which  its  materials  are  drawn.  The  under- 
standing aids  and  is  aided  by  this  creative,  plastic  func- 
tion of  the  imagination.  The  two  should  have  free  play 
in  productive  thinking.  Let  the  student  of  science  or 
art  saturate  himself  with  the  theme  on  which  productive 
he  is  working  ;  let  him  keep  health  and  energy  thinking. 
of  body  and  mind  at  their  highest  point ;  let  him  concen- 
trate his  best  powers  on  what  is  to  be  accomplished, 
keeping  clearly  in  mind  the  end  to  be  reached  and  the 
materials  to  be  used  ;  the  product  for  which  he  is  work- 
ing will  spring  into  being  in  ways  that  he  cannot  explain. 
Like  an  unfathomable  well  which  has  been  gathering  its 
waters  through  hidden  channels  from  mysterious  sources, 
the  stream  of  thought  comes  welling  up  from  the  depth 
of  the  soul  into  the  conscious  life  of  the  thinker,  giving 
him  the  living  waters  by  which  he  can  satisfy  the  thirst 
for  knowledge  felt  by  other  souls.  In  expressing,  formu- 
lating, and  communicating  the  thoughts  which  thus  come 
to  him  he  cannot  help  feeling  the  "joy  of  creating." 
"The  history  of  literature,"  says  Shedd,  "furnishes 
many  examples  of  men  whose  knowledge  only  increased 
their  sorrow,  because  it  never  found  an  efflux  from  their 
own  minds  into  the  world.  Knowledge  uncommunicated 
is  something  like  remorse  unconfessed.  The  Knowledge 
mind,  not  being  allowed  to  go  out  of  itself,  and  uncommu- 
to  direct  its  energies  towards  an  object  and  end 
greater  and  worthier  than  itself,  turns  back  upon  itself, 
and  becomes  morbidly  self-reflecting  and  self-conscious. 
A  studious  and  reflecting  man  of  this  class  is  character- 
ized by  excessive  fastidiousness,  which  makes  him  dissat- 
isfied with  all  that  he  does  himself  or  sees  done  by  others  ; 
which  represses  and  finally  suppresses  all  the  buoyant 
and  spirited  activity  of  the  intellect,  leaving  it  sluggish 
as  '  the  dull  weed  that  rots  by  Lethe's  wharf.' ' 


208          THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

No  teacher  and  no  system  of  training  can  furnish  both 

brains  and  culture.     It  is  not  the  mission  of  any  person 

Forms  of    ^°   create  in  every  line  of  effort.     Some  find 

creative     their  joy  in  evolving  and  expressing  thought 

ort'      with  tongue  or  pen,  others  through  the  brush 

or  the  chisel,  and  still  others  through  machinery  and  the 

handicrafts.     In  every  occupation  man  may  experience 

the  joy  of  creating  if  his  powers  of  imaging  are  allowed 

to  play  and  interplay  with  other  activities  of  thought. 

Each  in  normal  conditions  helps  the  others,  and  the 

activity  of  all  combined  is  essential  to  complete  living. 


XIII 

THE  STREAM   OF   THOUGHT 


14  309 


At  Learning's  fountain  it  is  sweet  to  drink, 
But  'tis  a  nobler  privilege  to  think  ; 
And  oft,  from  books  apart,  the  thirsting  mind 
May  make  the  nectar  which  it  cannot  find. 
'Tis  well  to  borrow  from  the  good  and  great ; 
'Tis  wise  to  learn  ;  'tis  godlike  to  create  ! 

J.  G.  SAXE. 

Madame  Swetchine  says  that  to  have  ideas  is  to  gather  flowers  : 
to  think  is  to  weave  them  into  garlands.  There  could  be  no  hap- 
pier synonym  for  thinking  than  the  word  weaving, — a  putting  to- 
gether of  the  best  products  of  observation,  reading,  experience,  and 
travel  so  as  to  represent  a  patterned  whole,  receiving  its  design 
from  the  weaver's  own  mind.  We  have  plenty  of  flowers ;  we 
want  more  garlands.  We  have  libraries,  books,  and  newspapers  ; 
we  want  more  thinkers. 

T.  SHARPER  KNOWLSON. 


210 


XIII 

THE   STREAM   OF   THOUGHT 

IN  speaking  of  our  inner  life  we  employ  language  that 
abounds  in  metaphors  drawn  from  the  external  world. 
Some  are  faded  metaphors  ;  others  are  still  fresh  and  new 
enough  to  suggest  what  was  in  the  minds  of  those  first 
using  them.  Many  of  these  metaphorical  expressions 
draw  attention  to  one  side  or  phase  of  the  truth.  If 
pressed  with  the  design  of  making  them  embody  the 
whole  truth,  they  become  untruths. 

One  fact  of  our  waking  consciousness  is  that  thought 
goes  on  without  stopping  so  long  as  we  remain  awake. 
Indeed,  some  philosophers  have  drawn  the  inference  that 
the  soul  always  thinks,  that  during  the  hours  of  deep 
sleep  the  brain-centres  may  be  at  rest,  but  that  thought 
nevertheless  flows  on  in  the  unconscious  depths  of  our 
being.  Locke  combats  this  idea  at  length  and  The  flow  of 
with  more  than  usual  warmth.  During  sleep  thou&ht- 
on  a  railway  train  we  sometimes  seem  to  be  awake,  the 
ends  of  our  conscious  thinking  apparently  fitting  into 
each  other  without  gaps ;  and  yet  the  calling  out  of  the 
stations  convinces  us  that  we  must  have  been  wrapped  in 
unconscious  slumber  when  we  passed  certain  stations 
without  noticing  that  the  train  stopped  and  the  stations 
were  announced.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  experience 
of  earnest  students  that  the  striking  of  a  clock  may  escape 
notice  because  the  mind  has  been  deeply  absorbed  in  a 
difficult  problem. 

The  question  need  not  concern  us  beyond  the  fact  that 
the  thinking  of  our  most  wakeful  moments  perpetually 
plays  into  our  sub-conscious  life.  In  order  that  the  flow 

211 


212          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

of  thought  welling  up  from  the  deepest  depths  of  the  soul 
may  be  clear,  copious,  and  full,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Teacher's  teacher  to  keep  himself  and  his  pupils  wide 

duty.  awake  during  the  hours  of  study  and  recitation. 
He  should  not  worry  them  by  excessive  tasks  or  unrea- 
sonable examinations  so  that  the  hours  of  sleep  are  dis- 
turbed by  dreams,  followed  during  the  day  by  weariness 
and  fatigue.  The  folly  of  burning  the  midnight  oil  and 
of  spending  too  many  hours  each  day  in  mental  toil  is 
fraught  with  evil  consequences  in  the  domain  of  thought. 
In  the  main  Harbaugh  was  right  when  he  undertook  to 
change  Franklin's  maxim  about  early  rising  into  the  fol- 
lowing form  :  "  Go  to  bed  early,  and  get  up  late ;  but  then 
keep  awake  all  day." 

So  far  as  we  are  aware,  thought  is  going  forward  con- 
tinuously while  we  are  awake.  This  phase  of  conscious- 
Thought  ness  has  been  likened  to  a  stream,  and  has 

like  a  given  rise  to  the  expression,  The  stream  of 
im>  thought.  The  metaphor  can  be  pressed  very  far 
without  conveying  untruths.  A  stream  does  not  always 
flow  with  the  same  velocity.  It  is  at  times  deep,  at  other 
times  shallow,  now  moving  forward  like  a  swollen  tor- 
rent, now  flowing  placidly  with  scarcely  a  wave  or  a 
ripple  perceptible  on  its  surface.  Here  its  smooth  course 
is  disturbed  by  wind  and  storm  and  rain ;  there  its  even 
flow  is  influenced  by  rocks  and  irregularities  in  the  bed 
of  the  stream.  Again  and  again  its  current  is  modified 
by  affluents  which  empty  their  waters  into  the  main 
stream,  perhaps  changing  the  appearance  from  clear  to 
cloudy  or  muddy,  or,  it  may  be,  exerting  the  opposite 
effect.  To  all  these  peculiarities  in  the  flow  of  the  stream 
there  are  likenesses  in  the  stream  of  thought.  At  times 
it  is  deep  and  at  other  times  shallow,  now  violent  and 
disturbed,  now  calm  and  placid,  sometimes  clear  to  the 
bottom,  sometimes  cloudy,  yea,  muddy,  always  modified 


THE  STREAM  OF   THOUGHT.  213 

more  or  less  by  influences  from  without,  which  are  taken 
up  into  the  main  current  of  thought  and  alter  the  stream 
like  the  tributaries  of  a  great  river. 

On  reaching  the  level  country  a  river  may  spread  out 
into  a  lake,  resulting  in  a  clearing  up  of  the  water  and 
resembling  the  periods  of  calm  meditation  during  which 
the  soul  clarifies  its  thinking.  The  lifelike  behavior  of 
rivers  and  the  carving  of  land  forms  from  their  youth 
through  maturity  to  old  age  have  furnished  many  a 
figure  of  speech  for  our  poetic  literature.  The  change 
from  the  active  upper  waters  to  the  sedate  lower  current 
may  typify  the  change  in  the  stream  of  thought  as  we 
pass  from  youth  to  age.  While  the  volume  of  the  stream 
is  small  and  the  channel  lacks  depth,  it  is  easy  to  change 
the  direction  of  the  current,  as  sometimes  happens  when 
a  straight  channel  is  dug  to  take  the  place  of  its  wind- 
ings. In  early  life  the  stream  of  thought  is  apt  to  wander 
in  meandering  courses ;  the  teacher  may  very 
frequently  find  it  necessary  to  keep  the  mind 
from  wandering,  to  direct  the  stream  of  thought  towards 
the  destined  goal,  and  to  make  it  groove  for  itself  chan- 
nels in  harmony  with  logical  habits.  In  teaching  pupils 
to  think  it  is  quite  as  essential  to  give  direction  to 
thought  as  it  is  to  furnish  either  thought-stimulus  or 
thought-material.  In  one  respect  the  metaphor,  stream 
of  thought,  fails  utterly  to  express  the  truth.  The  con- 
stituents of  thought  are  not  related  to  each  other  like  the 
molecules  of  a  liquid  which  move  freely  among  them- 
selves. Thoughts  have  a  connection  with  those  that  pre- 
cede and  those  that  follow.  An  inner  nexus  binds  the 
successive  portions  of  a  demonstration.  Hence  other 
figures  of  speech  have  been  employed  to  denote  other 
the  connection  between  the  successive  elements  metaPhors- 
of  a  logical  proof,  such  as  the  train  of  thought,  the  line 
of  argument,  the  chain  of  reasoning. 


214          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

It  will  be  readily  admitted  that  often  our  thinking  is  so 
loose  and  disjointed  that  its  component  parts  resemble 
the  liquid  more  than  the  chain,  whereas  our  best  think- 
ing— namely,  that  which  leads  to  a  goal  in  the  shape  of 
a  trustworthy  conclusion — resembles  a  train  of  cars  in 
which  motive  power  is  derived  not  from  steam,  but  from 
a  conscious  expenditure  of  will-power.  The  teacher  may 
perform  the  triple  function  of  fireman,  engineer,  and 
switch-tender,  supplying  the  fuel  for  the  process,  regu- 
lating the  speed,  and  directing  it  along  the  lines  of  track 
which  lead  to  the  desired  goal.  It  is  as  natural  for  a 
pupil  to  think  as  it  is  for  a  stream  to  flow  towards  the 
ocean.  The  stream  may  run  shallow  if  no  supply  of 
water  is  received  from  the  outside.  It  is  the  mission  of 
the  teacher  to  keep  up  the  supply,  to  remove  as  far  as 
possible  the  obstructions  which  are  likely  to  throw  the 
current  of  thought  into  unexpected  channels.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  this  current  of  thinking  that  it  is  cog- 

cognitive    nitive,   or  possesses  the  function  of  knowing. 

function.  Human  thought  resembles  the  stream  in  seem- 
ingly taking  up  and  carrying  what  was  not  a  part  of 
itself.  Just  as  the  stream  of  water  carries  minerals  in 
solution  as  well  as  silt,  sand,  pebbles,  and  even  heavier 
objects,  so  the  stream  of  thought  appears  to  lay  hold  of 
objects  and  to  carry  them  as  part  of  itself.  Here,  how- 
ever, the  strings  of  the  analogy  break.  The  stream  of 
thought  is  in  the  mind  ;  the  objects  with  which  it  deals 
are  outside  of  the  mind.  Mental  pictures  of  these  objects 
float  in  the  stream  of  thought  as  objects  on  the  bank 
of  a  river  are  mirrored  in  its  waters ;  yet  the  parallel  is 
not  complete,  because  the  mind  may  turn  the  eye  upon 
itself  and  make  what  is  thus  seen  the  object  of  thought. 
This  turning  upon  itself  may  be  likened  to  eddies  in  the 
stream.  But  even  when  the  mind  thus  turns  back  upon 
itself  and  views  its  own  states  and  activities,  these  are 


THE  STREAM   OF  THOUGHT.  215 

regarded  as  objective,  as  related  to  the  thinking  process 
very  much  like  the  objects  of  knowledge  in  the  external 
world. 

Another  important  phase  of  thinking  finds  no  likeness 
in  any  of  the  figures  of  speech  above  referred  to.  The 
mind  meets  certain  objects  of  thought  on  which  it  seems 
to  tarry  or  fasten  itself.  This  has  led  some  writers  to 

.deny  that  the  stream  of  thought  is  a  continuous  current. 

\  This  view  causes  undue  stress  to  be  laid  upon  the  mate- 
rial of  thought,  and  leads  the  teacher  to  undervalue  his 
function  as  directing  guide  in  teaching  pupils  to  think. 
Even  Professor  Bain  claims  that, — 

' '  The  stream  of  thought  is  not  a  continuous  current, 
but  a  series  of  distinct  ideas,  more  or  less  rapid  in  their 
succession,  the  rapidity  being  measurable  by      Bain's 
the  number  that  pass  through  the  mind  in  a       vfew. 
given  time.     Mental  excitement  is  constantly  judged  of 
by  this  test ;   and  if  we  choose  to  count  and  time  the 
thoughts  as  they  succeed  one  another,  we  could  give  so 
much  more  precision  to  the  estimate."  * 

These  transitions  should  not  be  confounded  with  the 
relations  between  objects  of  thought  or  between  objects 
in  the  external  world.  The  relations  may  be 
part  of  the  thought  of  that  which  is  perceived 
or  known,  or  they  may  be  made  distinct  ideas  or 
thoughts.  The  important  phase  under  consideration  is 
the  passage  of  the  mind  from  one  idea  or  thought  to 
another.  Such  transitions  are  quite  as  important  and 
quite  as  much  a  part  of  the  current  of  thought  as  the 
premises  and  conclusions  on  which  the  mind  seems  to 
rest.  These  two  phases  of  the  thought-process  may  be 
likened  to  the  perching  and  the  flight  of  a  bird.  This 
figure  of  speech  is  used  by  Professor  James,  among 

*  Bain's  "  The  Emotion  and  the  Will,"  page  39. 


216  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

whose  services  to  the  profession  of  teaching  it  is  not  the 
least  that  he  has  called  attention  to  the  importance  of 
Two       these  transitions  in  the  stream  of  conscious- 
phases,      ness.     His  account  is  so  lucid  and  satisfactory 
that   one  cannot   forbear  to    quote   his  words  at  some 
length.     Referring  to  the  stream  of  thought,  he  says, — 

"Like  a  bird's  life,  it  seems  to  be  made  up  of  an 
alternation  of  nights  and  perchings.  The  rhythm  of 
view  of  language  expresses  this,  where  every  thought 
Professor  is  expressed  in  a  sentence  and  every  sentence 
James,  dosed  by  a  period.  The  resting-places  are 
usually  occupied  by  sensorial  imaginations  of  some  sort, 
whose  peculiarity  is  that  they  can  be  held  before  the 
mind  for  an  indefinite  time  and  contemplated  without 
changing  ;  the  places  of  flight  are  filled  with  thoughts  of 
relations,  static  or  dynamic,  that  for  the  most  part  obtain 
between  the  matters  contemplated  in  the  periods  of  com- 
parative rest.  Let  us  call  the  halting-places  the  '  substan- 
tive' parts  and  the  places  of  flight  the  '  transitive'  parts 
of  the  stream  of  thought.  It  then  appears  that  the  main 
need  of  our  thinking  is  at  all  times  the  attainment  of 
some  other  substantive  part  than  the  one  from  which  we 
have  just  been  dislodged.  And  we  may  say  that  the 
main  use  of  the  transitive  parts  is  to  lead  us  from  one 
substantive  conclusion  to  another.  Now  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult, introspectively,  to  see  the  transitive  parts  for  what 
they  really  are.  If  they  are  but  flights  to  a  conclusion, 
stopping  them  to  look  at  them  before  a  conclusion  is 
reached  is  really  annihilating  them.  Whilst  if  we  wait 
until  the  conclusion  be  reached,  it  so  exceeds  them  in 
vigor  and  stability  that  it  quite  eclipses  and  swallows 
them  up  in  its  glare.  Let  any  one  try  to  cut  a  thought 
in  the  middle  and  get  a  look  at  its  section,  and  he  will 
see  how  difficult  the  introspective  observation  of  the 
transitive  tract  is.  The  rush  of  the  thought  is  so  head- 


THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT.  217 

long  that  it  almost  always  brings  us  up  at  the  conclusion 
before  we  can  arrest  it.  Or  if  our  purpose  is  nimble 
enough  and  we  do  arrest  it,  it  ceases  forthwith  to  be 
itself.  As  a  snow-flake  crystal  caught  in  the  warm  hand 
is  no  longer  a  crystal,  but  a  drop,  so,  instead  of  catching 
the  feeling  of  relation  moving  to  its  term,  we  find  we 
have  caught  some  substantive  thing,  usually  the  last  word 
we  were  pronouncing,  statistically  taken,  and  with  its 
function,  tendency,  and  particular  meaning  in  the  sen- 
tence quite  evaporated.  The  attempt  at  introspective 
analysis  in  these  cases  is,  in  fact,  like  seizing  a  spinning 
top  to  catch  its  motion,  or  trying  to  turn  up  the  gas 
quickly  enough  to  see  the  darkness.  And  the  challenge 
to  produce  these  psychoses,  which  is  sure  to  be  thrown 
by  doubting  psychologists  at  any  one  who  contends  for 
their  existence,  is  as  unfair  as  Zeno's  treatment  of  the 
advocates  of  motion,  when,  asking  them  to  point  out  in 
what  place  an  arrow  is  when  it  moves,  he  argues  the 
falsity  of  their  thesis  from  their  inability  to  make  to  so 
preposterous  a  question  an  immediate  reply."  * 

The  science  of  logic  deals  almost  altogether  with  the 
halting-places,  with  the  substantive  parts,  with  the  ideas, 
notions,  concepts  that  are  to  be  compared,  and  with 
the  resulting  judgments,  inferences,  and  conclusions. 
Whether  the  teacher  has  studied  the  science  of  logic  or 
not,  it  is  to  these  he  devotes  his  chief  attention ;  they 
can  be  analyzed,  defined,  and  clearly  fixed  as  thought- 
products  or  knowledge.  Defects  in  the  thinking-process 
are  apt  to  show  themselves  here ;  at  least,  they  furnish 
tangible  data  for  criticism,  corrections,  and  Nouns, 
reviews.  These  thought-products  on  which  the  vert6- etc- 
mind  loves  to  linger  are  denoted  by  nouns,  verbs,  ad- 
jectives, and  adverbs, — the  parts  of  speech  which  con- 

*  James's  "  Psychology,"  vol.  L,  pages  243,  244. 


218  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

stitute  the  bulk  of  the  vocabulary  of  every  language. 
The  movements  of  the  mind  from  one  object  of  thought 
to  another  are  indicated  by  conjunctions  and  other  con- 
nectives. Thinkers  are  often  known  by  their  favorite 
con.  connective  words  and  phrases.  Pupils  catch 
nectives.  these  from  the  phraseology  of  their  teachers, 
or  pick  them  up  unconsciously  from  the  books  they 
read.  Some  languages  are  richer  in  such  connective 
words  and  phrases  than  others ;  the  mind  carries  away 
some  influence  in  the  way  of  making  these  transitions 
in  thought  from  every  language  which  it  studies  ;  its 
thinking  is  moulded  by  the  language  which  it  masters. 
Logic  has  very  little  to  say  about  these  transitions  for 
which  one  language  sometimes  supplies  words  and  ex- 
pressions altogether  wanting  in  another.  Frequently  we 
grow  conscious  of  them  through  the  feeling  of  a  gap  to 
be  filled,  or  of  a  chasm  to  be  leaped  over,  or  of  an 
obstacle  to  be  cleared  away,  or  of  something  that  ob- 
structs our  thinking  and  hinders  it  from  reaching  the 
goal.  Here  again  one  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  Pro- 
fessor James,  although  his  words  do  not  indicate  that  he 
fully  realizes  the  value  for  elementary  instruction  of 
what  he  has  written.  Here  are  his  words  : 

"The  truth  is  that  large  tracts  of  human  speech  are 
nothing  but  signs  of  direction  in  thought,  of  which  direc- 
tion we,  nevertheless,  have  an  acutely  discriminative 
sense,  though  no  definite  sensorial  image  plays  any  part 
in  it  whatsoever.  Sensorial  images  are  stable  psychic 
facts ;  we  can  hold  them  still,  and  look  at  them  as  long 
as  we  like.  These  bare  images  of  logical  movements,  on 
the  contrary,  are  psychic  transitions,  always  on  the  wing, 
so  to  speak,  and  not  to  be  glimpsed  except  in  flight. 
Their  function  is  to  lead  from  one  set  of  images  to 
another.  As  they  pass,  we  feel  both  the  waxing  and  the 
waning  images  in  a  way  quite  different  from  the  way  of 


THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT.  219 

their  full  presence.  If  we  try  to  hold  fast  the  feeling  of 
direction,  the  full  presence  comes,  and  the  feeling  of 
direction  is  lost.  The  blank  verbal  scheme  of  logical 
movement  gives  us  the  fleeting  sense  of  the  movement  as 
we  read  it,  quite  as  well  as  does  a  rational  sentence 
awakening  definite  imaginations  by  its  words. ' '  * 

Right  here  the  teacher  who  is  an  artist  finds  the  oppor- 
tunity for  the  display  of  his  highest  skill.  It  is  his 
privilege  to  direct  the  flights  and  the  perch-  Directing 
ings  of  the  youthful  mind.  He  can  shape  the  the  youth- 
thoughts  and  their  sequence.  He  can  cause  fulmmd- 
the  intellect  to  move  from  the  reason  to  its  consequence, 
or  in  the  reverse  direction  if  that  be  more  natural  or 
more  appropriate.  He  can  guide  the  thought  from  cause 
to  effect,  from  the  whole  to  the  parts,  from  the  general  to 
the  particular,  from  the  end  to  the  means,  from  the  de- 
sign to  its  execution  ;  or  a  movement  the  other  way  is 
possible  in  each  of  these  categories.  While  thus  choosing 
the  direction  which  thought  shall  take,  he  can  select  the 
objects  upon  which  it  shall  tarry.  This  directing  influ- 
ence he  will  often  exert  when  he  is  not  aware  of  it.  His 
own  habits  of  mind  will  be  reflected  in  the  mental  life  of 
his  pupils.  There  was  profound  philosophy  in  the  reply 
of  a  gifted  author  who,  when  asked  by  his  daughter  what 
she  should  study,  said,  "I  am  more  concerned  about  the 
teachers  under  whom  you  study  than  about  the  branches 
of  study  which  you  may  select."  Habits  of  thought  de- 
pend far  more  upon  the  teacher  than  upon  the  text- book, 
upon  the  quality  of  the  instruction  than  upon  its  general 
content.  There  is,  of  course,  a  difference  in  the  culture 
value  of  different  branches  of  study ;  but  a  study  as 
valuable  as  geometry  may  be  pursued  in  a  loose  way, 
whilst  branches  of  much  inferior  value  for  developing 

*  James's  "  Psychology,"  vol.  i.,  page  253 


220  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

power  to  think  may  be  taught  and  studied  by  the  methods 
of  rigid  and  exact  thought. 

In  shaping  the  activity  of  thought,  the  artist-teacher 
makes  the  mind  tarry  long  enough  for  clear  apprehen- 
The  artist-  si°n>  sometimes  for  thorough  comprehension, 
teacher,  upon  the  ideas,  judgments,  and  conclusions 
which  are  the  framework  of  a  system  of  thought, 
but  he  does  not  neglect  the  transitions  from  one  to  the 
other,  as  if  these  were  of  .little  account  or  necessarily 
took  care  of  themselves.  'The  transitions  in  thought  are 
aided  by  set  phrases  and  forms  of  solution.  As  soon 
as  these  are  mastered,  there  develops  the  tendency  to 
think  them  as  algebraic  symbols,  which  do  substitute 
duty  in  the  absence  of  that  for  which  they  stand. 
For  fear  of  this,  the  teacher  sometimes  fails  to  drill  on 
them  long  enough  to  fix  them  in  the  mind, — certainly  a 
radical  mistake.  \  Drill  is  a  condition  of  the  highest  dis- 
cipline in  the^school  as  well  as  in  the  army.  The  drill- 
master  seeks  to  habituate  the  soldier  to  the  word  of  com- 
mand, so  that  he  will  obey  in  the  face  of  danger  without 
thinking  of  the  consequences.  ^The  drill-master  at  school 
seeks  to  make  it  second  nature  for  a  pupil  to  go  through 
the  logical  motions,  but  not  without  conscious  thought 
of  the  process  or  the  consequences.  Whenever  the 
learner  uses  forms  of  parsing,  analysis,  or  solution,  his 
mind  should  go  through  the  movements  of  thought  ex- 
pressed by  the  language.  Ask  any  ordinary  class  to  give 
you  a  noun  of  the  first  person ;  they  are  almost  sure  to 
give  you  either  a  noun  of  the  third  person  or  a  pronoun 
of  the  first  person.  Dictate  a  sentence  with  a  noun  in 
the  first  person,  and  ask  the  pupils  to  parse  it  in  the 
customary  way  ;  in  nearly  all  cases  they  will  parse  it  as 
a  noun  of  the  third  person.  Ask  them  to  tell  why  a 
personal  pronoun  is  so  called ;  frequently  they  say  be- 
cause it  indicates  a  person, — a  statement  quite  applicable 


THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT.  221 

to  other  kinds  of  pronouns.  If  the  logical  or  customary 
forms  of  speech  are  employed,  the  stream  of  thought 
moves  on,  the  mind  often  failing  to  perceive  Forms  of 
the  new  truth,  or  error,  or  nonsense  inherent  speech. 
in  the  language  employed.  School -boys  have  tricks  of 
their  own  which  turn  upon  this  peculiarity  in  the  move- 
ment of  thought:  "Who  killed  Cain?"  is  suddenly 
asked.  "Abel,"  is  the  reply  generally  elicited  by  the 
question.  Should  you  say,  Nine  times  seven  is  or  are 
forty-two  1  The  boy  who  decides  in  favor  of  is  or  are 
gets  a  shock  of  surprise  on  being  told  that  the  product 
of  nine  times  seven  is  not  forty-two. 

One  day  a  teacher  was  lecturing  upon  education  in  the 
dark  ages.  To  show  how  the  energies  of  the  common 
people  were  exhausted  in  the  struggle  for  exist-  A  strange 
ence,  the  resolution  of  a  synod  in  the  south  of  reply. 
France  was  cited.  The  resolution  enjoined  upon  the 
bishops  the  duty  of  seeing  to  it  that  during  a  period  of 
scarcity  of  food  the  peasants  were  at  least  provided  with 
bread  made  of  acorns.  A  few  minutes  later  a  reference 
was  made  to  the  autobiography  of  Thomas  Platter,  in 
which  certain  things  are  described  as  happening  about 
the  time  of  the  Diet  of  "Worms.  On  being  asked  in 
what  period  of  history  that  was,  a  pupil  promptly  re- 
plied, "When  the  common  people  were  fed  on  worms." 

Very  much  of  the  sermonizing  of  our  day  gives  rise  to 
the  same  kind  of  thinking.     The  mind  is  borne  along  by 
the  customary  flow  of  words.     The  phrases  used  have  an 
orthodox  sound  ;  perhaps  they  are  biblical  in  the  sense 
that  they  occur  in  the  Bible.     It  is  impossible     Biblical 
to  tell  whether  any  clear  idea  or  real  religious      phrase- 
experience  is  suggested  to  the  hearer's  mind  by      ology> 
the  words  used.     The  ideas  excited  in  the  hearer  should . 
be  those  for  which  the  words  stand  in  the  mind  of  the 
speaker.     If  the  ideas  of  the  speaker  are  not  clear,  how 


222          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

can  his  words  suggest  anything  definite  to  the  audience  ? 

Huxley  relates  an  amusing  story  of  an  after-dinner  ora- 

Huxiey's    t°r  wno  was  endowed  with  a  voice  of  rare  flexi- 

story.  bility  and  power,  and  with  a  fine  flow  of  words, 
and  who  was  called  upon  to  speak  without  much  prepa- 
ration. The  applause  was  terrific.  When  Huxley  asked 
a  neighbor  who  was  especially  enthusiastic  what  the 
orator  had  said,  the  latter  could  not  tell.  Nothing  was 
lacking  in  the  post-prandial  speech  save  sense  and  occa- 
sionally grammar.* 

The  fuller  consideration  of  the  stream  of  thought  in 
listening  and  lecturing,  in  reading,  speaking,  and  com- 
posing, is  deserving  of  separate  chapters.  The  mental 
attitude  in  listening  resembles  that  in  getting  thought 
from  the  printed  page.  Silent  reading  is  for  the  reader's 
own  benefit ;  it  comprises  by  far  the  larger  proportion 
of  our  reading.  In  oral  reading,  the  stream  of  thought 
is  somewhat  different,  the  aim  being  similar  to  that  of 
public  speaking, — namely,  to  suggest  or  convey  to  the 
hearer  thoughts  from  some  other  mind.  In  the  act  of 
composing,  the  aim  is  to  evolve  thought  from  the  mind's 
own  resources  and  activities.  The  thought  process  is 
very  much  the  same,  no  matter  whether  we  dictate  to  a 
stenographer,  or  speak  to  an  audience,  or  use  the  pen 
in  giving  to  it  form  and  abiding  shape.  It  will  be  most 
convenient  to  treat  together  the  stream  of  thought  in 
listening  and  in  silent  reading,  and  to  reserve  for  separate 
consideration  the  activity  of  the  mind  in  writing,  speak- 
ing, and  oral  reading. 

*  Huxley's  "  Discourses,  Biological  and  Geological  Essays,"  pages 
vi,  vii. 


XIV 

THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  LISTEN 
ING  AND  READING 


Reading  is  thinking  along  a  prescribed  line  that  lies  goldenly 
beneath  the  flow  of  words. 

BRUMBAUGH. 

Whittier  uses  words  as  stepping-stones  upon  which  with  a  light 
and  joyous  bound  he  crosses  and  recrosses  at  will  the  rapid  and 
rushing  stream  of  thought. 

LONGFELLOW. 

To  listen  well  is  to  think  well, — the  hearing  ear  must  be  attended 
by  the  alert  mind,  eager  to  seize  upon  incoming  sensations  and 
weave  them  into  a  garland  of  thought. 

M.  G.  B. 

Words,  however  well  constructed  originally,  are  always  tending 
like  coins,  to  have  their  inscription  worn  off  by  passing  from  hand 
to  hand  ;  and  the  only  possible  mode  of  reviving  it  is  to  be  ever 
stamping  it  afresh  by  living  in  the  habitual  contemplation  of  the 
phenomena  themselves,  and  not  resting  in  our  familiarity  with  the 
words  that  express  them. 

J.  S.  MILL. 


224 


XIV 

THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  LISTEN- 
ING AND  READING 

Two  men  engaged  in  speculative  pursuits  met        A 
after  one  had  published  a  book.     Let  us  speak    suggestive 
of  them  as  A  and  B.  dialogue. 

A  :  I  have  just  read  your  new  book.  Many  things  in 
it  please  me  very  much,  but  in  it  you  say  so  and  so,  with 
which  I  do  not  find  myself  in  full  accord. 

B  :  I  say  nothing  of  the  kind  in  that  book. 

A  :  I  surely  read  your  book. 

B :  You  never  read  a  book  in  your  life.  You  read 
some  sentences  or  paragraphs  ;  your  mind  begins  to  react 
upon  what  you  have  read  ;  and  ere  long  you  imagine 
that  your  inferences  are  the  conclusions  of  the  author. 

A  :  I  have  a  notion  to  write  a  psychology,  and  to  set 
forth  my  views  in  full. 

B  :  Don't  you  do  it.  You  know  no  psychology.  You 
have  been  of  great  service  in  stimulating  others  to  think ; 
you  are  a  most  delightful  lecturer ;  but  you  have  never 
mastered  psychology. 

If  a  third  party  could  have  listened  to  the  conversa- 
tion, what  stream  of  consciousness  would  have  started  in 
his  mind  ?    Possibly  surprise  at  the  frankness  of  B  and 
the  composure  of  A,  mingled  with  thoughts  of  what  they 
were  discussing.     In  other  words,  a  strong  tinge 
of  feeling  would  be  perceptible  in  the  stream  of 
thought.     In  the  minds  of  the  two  engaged  in  the  dia- 
logue, feeling  must  have  greatly  modified  the  current  of 
thought.     The  greatest  kindness  that  can  be  shown  to 

15  225 


226          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

some  men  is  to  oppose  or  criticise  their  views.  Opposi- 
tion and  criticism  stimulate  their  thinking,  and  rouse 
their  mental  powers  to  the  highest  possible  tension  and 
activity.  In  men  of  the  opposite  temperament,  feeling 
beclouds  their  thinking,  and  makes  the  stream  of  thought 
more  sluggish.  The  common  prejudice  against  appeals 
to  feeling  are  due  to  the  abuse  of  the  right  which  every 
orator  has  of  addressing  the  feelings  through  the  intellect, 
and  of  thereby  moving  the  will.  To  move  the  will  is 
the  essence  and  aim  of  all  eloquence.  In  listening  or 
lecturing,  in  reading  or  composing,  some  form  of  emotion 
always  accompanies  the  stream  of  thought.  The  orator 
may  move  the  hearer  to  tears  or  to  laughter  ;  he  is  not 
untrue  to  his  mission  if  he  can  thereby  win  a  vote,  secure 
a  verdict,  or  move  the  hearer  to  action.  A  lecture  is 
addressed  primarily  to  the  understanding.  It  is  greatly 
improved  if  the  stream  of  thought  which  it  starts  and 
supplies  is  accompanied  by  feelings  of  interest  and  the 
pleasurable  emotions  attendant  upon  novelty, 

Interest.  .  i        im. 

curiosity,  or  admiring  approval.  The  con- 
sciousness that  we  understand  a  lecture  is  accompanied 
by  pleasurable  emotions  which  help  to  sustain  the  atten- 
tion. 

The  writer  once  paid  a  shilling  to  hear  Spurgeon.     It 
was  his  purpose  to  get  a  good  seat,  so  that  he  might 

study  this  famous  preacher's  gestures  and  de- 

Spurgeon.  ,  . .          ,,      .  . 

livery,  the  quality  of  his  voice,  and  the  secret 
of  his  eloquence.  The  text  was  hardly  announced  be- 
fore every  one  in  the  audience,  including  the  writer, 
forgot  all  about  Spurgeon,  and  thought  only  of  his  mes- 
sage to  the  thousands  before  him.  The  secret  of  his 
oratory  lay  in  his  ability  to  make  the  audience  forget 
everything  except  the  gospel  he  was  preaching.  If 
people,  after  hearing  a  speaker,  talk  of  his  fine  delivery, 
his  flowery  language  and  beautiful  figures  of  speech,  or 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING   AND  READING.        227 

his  peculiarities  of  pronunciation  and  other  eccentricities, 
it  is  proof  positive  that  he  has  failed.  Instead  of  hold- 
ing the  attention  to  what  he  was  saying,  the  audience 
was  thinking  of  his  manner  and  delivery.  A  well- 
printed  book  has  the  advantage  of  keeping  the  author's 
personal  characteristics  from  interfering  with  the  stream 
of  thought.  It  has  the  disadvantage  of  losing  all  the 
helps  to  listening  and  thinking  which  come  from  the 
tones  of  the  voice  and  eloquent  delivery. 

The  accusation  of  B  against  A,  referred  to  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  chapter,  is  applicable  to  many  readers.  For 
several  sentences  the  mind  is  riveted  upon  the  author's 
meaning.  Presently  a  train  of  thought  starts ;  the  eye 
runs  along  the  sentences  to  the  bottom  of  the  page.  On 
turning  the  page,  the  reader  wakes  up  to  the  conscious- 
ness that  his  mind  does  not  retain,  perhaps  never  had 
the  slightest  notion  of  the  contents  of  said  page.  Often 
the  train  of  thought  leads  to  no  goal ;  the  thinking  re- 
sembles the  process  of  wool-gathering,  the  tufts  of  wool 
on  bushes  and  hedges  necessitating  much  wandering  to 
little  purpose. 

For  the  sake  of  cultivating  ability  to  think,  students 
are  advised  to  read  the  works  of  great  thinkers,  like 
Kant,  Schleiermacher,  and  Hegel.  Such  read-  The  works 
ing  is  often  a  sham  and  a  delusion.  No  one  of  great 
has  done  more  to  shape  the  critical  thinking  of 
the  world  than  Kant ;  and  yet  how  many  young  men 
waste  time  upon  his  pages  because  they  are  not  prepared 
to  think  his  thoughts.  Schleiermacher  stimulated  and 
modified  the  thinking  of  theologians  in  every  department 
of  their  science  except  Old  Testament  exegesis  ;  and  yet 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Kahnis,  of  the  University  of  Leipsic, 
used  to  say  of  Schleiermacher,  "  Er  ist  rein  nicht  zum 
studiren."  Nevertheless,  students  for  the  ministry  have 
been  known  to  waste  hours  in  trying  to  read  his  writings, 


228          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

which  they  were  not  prepared  to  understand.  Of  the 
obscurer  passages  in  Hegel  an  eminent  authority  says, 
"  It  is  a  fair  question  whether  the  rationality  included  in 
them  be  anything  more  than  the  fact  that  the  words  all 
belong  to  a  common  vocabulary,  and  are  strung  together 
on  a  scheme  of  predication  and  relation, — immediacy, 
self- relation,  and  what  not, — which  has  habitually  re- 
curred. Yet  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
subjective  feeling  of  the  rationality  of  these  sentences 
was  strong  in  the  writer  as  he  penned  them,  or  even  that 
some  readers  by  straining  may  have  reproduced  it  in 
themselves."  * 

It  may  be  worth  an  honest  effort  for  students  and 
teachers  to  try  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  such  writers  5  but 
if  after  a  fair  trial  the  mind  is  left  empty  of  meaning,  it 
is  wise  to  follow  the  advice  of  Locke  with  regard  to  ob- 
scure ancient  authors : 

"In  reading  of  them,  if  they  do  not  use  their  words 
with  a  due  clearness  and  perspicuity,  we  may  lay  them 
aside,  and,  without  any  injury  done  them,  resolve  thus 
with  ourselves : 

*  James's  "  Psychology,"  vol.  i.,  page  264.  Of  Charles  Darwin's 
habits  of  reading,  his  son  says,  "  I  have  often  heard  him  say  that 
he  got  a  kind  of  satisfaction  in  reading  articles  which  (according  to 
himself)  he  could  not  understand.  I  wish  I  could  reproduce  the 
manner  in  which  he  would  laugh  at  himself  for  it."  Of  his  scien- 
tific reading,  this  son  writes  as  follows:  "Much  of  his  scientific 
reading  was  in  German,  and  this  was  a  great  labor  to  him ;  in 
reading  a  book  after  him,  I  was  often  struck  at  seeing,  from  the 
pencil-marks  made  each  day  where  he  left  off,  how  little  he  could 
read  at  a  time.  He  used  to  call  German  the  'Verdammte,'  pro- 
nounced as  if  in  English.  He  was  especially  indignant  with  Ger- 
mans, because  he  was  convinced  that  they  could  write  simply  if 
they  chose,  and  often  praised  Dr.  F.  Hildebrand  for  writing  Ger- 
man which  was  as  clear  as  French." — "Life  and  Letters  of  Charles 
Darwin,"  vol.  i.,  page  103. 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  READING.        229 

"Si  non  vis  intelligi,  debes  negligi."  * 

Several  months  or  years  of  study  may  be  required  to 
prepare  the  mind  for  grasping  the  ideas  or  phraseology 
of  new  departments  of  investigation.  No  one  can  com- 
prehend the  treatises  on  physiological  psychology  with- 
out devoting  several  weeks  to  the  anatomy  of  the  brain. 

The  words,  phrases,  and  sentences  of  the  printed  or 
written  page  should  call  up  in  the  mind  of  the  reader 
that  for  which  they  stand  in  the  mind  of  the  author. 
What  the  stream  of  thought  should  be  in  reading  a  book 
is  well  worthy  of  careful  consideration.  Gr.  H. 

Reading. 

Lewes,  in  " Problems  of  Life  and  Mind," 
claims  that  "our  thought  is  a  constant  interchange  of 
ideas  and  images,  some  trains  of  thought  being  carried 
on  mainly  by  images  more  or  less  vivid,  others  mainly  by 
ideas  with  only  a  faint  escort  of  images."  It  should  be 
said,  by  way  of  explanation,  that  he  does  not  use  the 
word  "ideas"  in  the  Platonic  sense  of  patterns  fixed  in 
nature,  of  which  the  individual  objects  in  any  given  class 
are  but  imperfect  copies,  and  by  participation  in  which 
they  have  their  being ;  nor  in  the  sense  of  a  mental  image 
or  picture,  which  (in  opposition  to  Sir  William  Hamil- 
ton), the  Century  Dictionary  claims,  has  been  the  more 
common  meaning  of  the  term  in  English  literature  since 
the  sixteenth  century.  In  Lewes' s  pages  ideas  never 
stand  for  images,  nor  for  copies  of  sensations.  Sully 
says  that  the  term  idea  is  used  to  include  both  images 
and  concepts,  marking  off  the  whole  region  of  the  repre- 
sentative from  the  presentative,  but  that,  like  the  term 
notion,  it  now  tends  to  be  confined  to  concepts.  With 
Lewes  all  ideas  are  thoughts,  but  not  all  thoughts  are 
ideas.  He  does  not  reject  the  popular  usage  of  the  word 
in  phrases  like  the  idea  of  Shakespeare's  Othello,  of  Bis- 

*  Locke's  "  Human  Understanding,"  vol.  ii.,  page  85. 


230          THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

marck's  policy.  Take  the  following  sentence  from  Justin 
McCarthy's  "History  of  Our  Own  Times  :"  "Unluckily, 
Lord  Palmerston  became  possessed  with  the  idea  that  the 
French  minister  in  Greece  was  secretly  setting  the  Greek 
government  on  to  resist  our  claims."  In  thinking  the 
thought  of  this  sentence  the  mind  is  not  filled  with  any 
images  of  Greece  or  mental  pictures  of  any  other  kind. 
Possibly  the  adjective  Greek  may  bring  to  the  minds  of 
some  persons  the  map  symbol  of  Greece  or  even  scenery 
and  cities  in  Greece,  especially  if  they  have  travelled  or 
resided  there ;  but  such  mental  pictures  really  interfere 
with  the  current  of  thought  in  reading.  In  planning  a 
route  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  one  is  apt  to 
think  it  in  the  lines  and  dots  of  railway  maps.  That  in 
the  mind  for  which  words  stand  may  be  styled  their 
meaning,  and  Lewes  claims  that  much  of  our  reading 

Lewes's  does  not  translate  the  words  into  their  full  sig- 
view.  nification,  but  proceeds  by  a  process  of  logical 
symbolism.  He  asserts  that  ' '  the  greater  proportion  of 
all  men's  thinking  goes  forward  with  confident  reliance 
on  the  correctness  of  the  logical  operations,  and  with 
only  an  occasional  translation  of  symbols  into  images. 
The  translation — verification— does,  indeed,  from  time  to 
time  take  place,  and  always  in  proportion  to  the  novelty 
of  the  connections ;  but  how  easily  and  how  fatally  the 
mind  glides  along  the  path  of  logical  operation  without 
pausing  to  interpret  more  than  the  relation  of  the  sym- 
bols is  humorously  illustrated  in  the  common  story  of  a 
physicist,  whose  claim  to  omniscience  was  the  joke  of  his 
friends.  Being  asked  earnestly  whether  he  had  'read 
Biot's  paper  on  the  malleability  of  light?'  'No,'  he 
replied ;  '  he  sent  it  me,  but  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to 
read  it.'  " 

Lewes's  meaning  is  made  somewhat  clearer  by  two 
examples  which  he  uses.      "Suppose  you  inform  me 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  READING.        231 

that  the  blood  rushed  violently  from  the  man's  heart, 
quickening  his  pulse,  at  the  sight  of  his  enemy.  Of 
the  many  latent  images  in  this  phrase,  how  many  ^n 
were  salient  in  your  mind  and  in  mine?  example. 
Probably  two, — the  man  and  his  enemy, — and  these 
images  were  faint.  Images  of  blood,  heart,  violent 
rushing,  pulse,  quickening,  and  sight  were  either  not 
revived  at  all  or  were  passing  shadows.  Had  any  such 
images  arisen,  they  would  have  hampered  thought,  re- 
tarding the  logical  process  of  judgment  by  irrelevant 
connections.  The  symbols  had  substituted  relations  for 
these  valves, — the  logical  relations  of  inclusion  and  ex- 
clusion which  constitute  judgment.  You  were  not 
anxious  to  inform  me  respecting  the  qualities  of  blood, 
heart,  pulse,  etc.,  but  only  of  a  certain  effect  produced  on 
one  man  by  sight  of  another ;  and  this  effect  you  ex- 
pressed in  the  physiological  terms  which  came  first  to 
hand ;  you  might  have  expressed  it  equally  well  in  very 
different  psychological  terms, — '  fierce  anger  seized  the 
man's  soul,  rousing  all  his  energies  at  the  sight  of  his 
enemy,'  when  assuredly  there  would  not  have  been  pres- 
ent images J>£/ anger,'  'seizing,'  'soul,'  'rousing,'  and 
'energies.'  These  terms  are  symbols  which  stand  for 
clusters  of  images,  and  can  at  will  be  translated  into 
images,  just  as  algebraic  letters  stand  for  values  which  can 
be  assigned.  But  for  purposes  of  thought  and  calcula- 
tion such  translation  is  unnecessary,  is  hampering ;  all 
that  is  necessary  is  that  the  terms  should  occupy  their 
proper  logical  position.'7  * 

The  other  example  is  still  more  striking.  "Suppose  I 
read  the  phrase,  '  The  ship  which  carried  Nelson  was  ap- 
propriately named  the  Victory ;'  unless  the  ship  itself  is 

*Lewes's  "Problems  of  Life  and  Mind,"  Fourth  Problem,  pages 
474,  475. 


232          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

the  prominent  interest,  I  have  probably  no  image  at  all, 
or  at  least  only  a  faint  and  fleeting  shadow  of  some  vague 
Another  outline.  I  do  not  picture  a  man- of- war,  I  do  not 
example.  see  the  hull,  masts,  cordage,  and  cannon,  though 
these,  with  the  figure-head,  fluttering  flags,  and  pennons, 
may  successfully  emerge  if  I  dwell  on  the  ship.  I  perhaps 
do  not  see  Nelson,  or,  at  any  rate,  do  not  see  his  pale  face, 
one  eye,  and  one  arm,  but  only  some  faint  suggestion  of  a 
human  form.  The  purpose  of  the  phrase  was  not  to  raise 
images,  but  to  communicate  a  fact  respecting  the  name 
of  the  ship  ;  and  my  intelligence  has  been  occupied  with 
this  purpose.  I  must,  it  is  true,  have  understood  each 
word,  or,  at  any  rate,  each  clause  of  the  sentence ;  but 
for  this  understanding  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
translate,  nor  even  that  I  should  be  capable  of  trans^ 
lating,  each  word  into  an  image  or  cluster  of  images ;  it  is 
enough  if  I  apprehend  a  series  of  logical  relations.  We 
all  use  occasional  words  with  intelligent  and  intelligible 
propriety,  the  meaning  of  which  as  isolated  terms  we  can- 
not translate.  We  read  Shakespeare  and  Goethe  without 
a  suspicion  of  the  many  words  which  for  us  have  na 
images.  But  if  one  of  these  words  occurs  in  an  un- 
familiar connection  we  are  at  once  arrested,  as  we  are  if 
any  familiar  word  is  placed  in  an  unfamiliar  position. 
Suppose  we  come  upon  the  sentence,  'The  ship  which 
carried  Nelson  was  named  Victory  /  the  ship  which  car- 
ried Napoleon  across  the  desert  was  named  Akbar,' — we 
are  at  once  arrested;  the  connection  of  ship  and  desert  is 
unusual,  and  is  seen,  on  reflection,  to  be  contrary  to  expe- 
rience ;  but  when  we  learn  that  the  camel  is  called  the 
ship  of  the  desert,'  we  recognize  the  new  value  assigned 
to  the  term,  and  the  logical  correctness  of  the  phrase  is 
thereby  recognized."  * 

*  Lewes' s  "  Problems  of  Life  and  Mind,"  Fourth  Problem,  pages 

475-477. 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  READING.        233 

These  examples,  and  others  like  them  which  Lewes 
gives,  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the  proposition  that 
"  much  of  our  thinking  is  carried  on  by  means  of  symbols 
without  any  images,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  thinking 
being  carried  on  by  words  without  any  meanings  and  with 
only  the  accompanying  intuition  of  their  logical  rela- 
tions." Thus,  after  a  century  of  exhortation  against  the 
blind  use  of  words  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
question  of  using  words  in  thinking  without  realizing  the 
full  meaning,  an  abuse  of  words  for  which  reformers  have 
shot  their  arrows  at  rote  teaching  from  every  possible 
point  of  view.  "What  truth  is  there  in  the  statement  of 
Mr.  Lewes  ?  "What  can  be  his  meaning  ? 

It  must  be  admitted  that  men  in  mature  life  skim 
newspapers,  magazines,  and  books,  especially  books  of 
fiction  and  books  of  reference,  without  realizing  in  their 
minds  the  import  of  all  the  words  upon  which  the 
eye  falls.  The  aim  may  be  to  get  the  plot  of  the  story 
or  a  fact  for  some  specific  use,  or  a  hurried  view  of  the 
news  and  current  events  of  the  last  twenty-four  hours. 
But  this  is  not  the  kind  of  thinking  which  the  teacher 
aims  to  beget  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils.  Nor  does  it 
ever  lead  to  a  just  appreciation  of  literature. 
All  literature  which  appeals  to  the  imagination 
cannot  be  read  and  enjoyed  in  that  way.  (  No  one  can 
rightly  read  a  choice  selection  without  thinking  what 
was  in  the  author's  mind,  reconstructing  the  images  and 
scenes  which  were  before  his  mental  eye  and  imaging  in 
following  the  movements  depicted  by  his  Ian-  poetry, 
guage.  Movement  is  more  easily  conceived  than  scenery, 
and  abounds  in  the  stories  which  are  most  popular  among 
children.  Judicious  exercises  will  soon  enable  The  correct 
the  pupil  to  call  up  all  kinds  of  imagery.  In  the  Plan- 
Standard  Fifth  Eeader  it  is  suggested  that  the  pupils  sit 
with  closed  eyes  and  close  attention  while  the  teacher 


234          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

or  one  of  the  pupils  reads  a  paragraph  or  stanza. 
For  illustration,  Kate  Putnam  Osgood's  poem,  entitled 
"Driving  Home  the  Cows,"  is  selected. 

Out  of  the  clover  and  blue-eyed  grass 

He  turned  them  into  the  river  lane  ; 
One  after  another  he  let  them  pass, 

Then  fastened  the  meadow  bars  again. 

Under  the  willows  and  over  the  hill 
He  patiently  followed  their  sober  pace  ; 

The  merry  whistle  for  once  was  still, 

And  something  shadowed  the  sunny  face. 

Only  a  boy  !  and  his  father  had  said 

He  never  could  let  his  youngest  go  ; 
Two  already  were  lying  dead 

Under  the  feet  of  the  trampling  foe. 

But  after  the  evening's  work  was  doixe, 
And  the  frogs  were  loud  in  the  meadow-swamp, 

Over  his  shoulder  he  slung  his  gun, 
And  stealthily  followed  the  foot-path  damp  ; 

Across  the  clover  and  through  the  wheat, 
With  resolute  heart  and  purpose  grim  ; 

Though  the  dew  was  on  his  hurrying  feet 
And  the  blind  bat's  flitting  startled  him. 

Thrice  since  then  had  the  lanes  been  white, 
And  the  orchard  sweet  with  apple-bloom ; 

And  now,  when  the  cows  came  back  at  night, 
The  feeble  father  drove  them  home. 

For  news  had  come  to  the  lonely  farm 
That  three  were  lying  where  two  had  lain  ; 

And  the  old  man's  tremulous,  palsied  arm 
Could  never  lean  on  a  son's  again. 

The  summer  days  grew  cool  and  late : 
He  went  for  the  cows  when  the  work  was  done ; 

But  down  the  lane  as  he  opened  the  gate 
He  saw  them  coming,  one  by  one  : 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  READING.        235 

Brindle,  Ebony, 'Speckle,  and  Bess, 
Shaking  their  horns  in  the  evening  wind  ; 

Cropping  the  buttercups  out  of  the  grasa  ; 
But  who  was  it  following  close  behind  ? 

Loosely  swung  in  the  idle  air 

An  empty  sleeve  of  army  blue  ; 
And  worn  and  pale,  from  the  crisping  hair, 

Looked  out  a  face  that  the  father  knew. 

The  great  tears  sprang  to  their  meeting  eye^ 
For  the  heart  must  speak  when  the  lips  are  dnmb ; 

And  under  the  silent  evening  skies 
Together  they  followed  the  cattle  home. 

Who  can  fully  appreciate  these  stanzas  without  pic- 
turing the  landscape  of  clover,  blue-eyed  grass,  meadow 
bars,  river  lane,  cows  moving  homeward,  and  especially 
the  boy  with  the  shadow  on  his  face,  the  two  older 
brothers  lying  dead  under  the  feet  of  the  trampling  foe  ? 
The  subsequent  parts  of  the  poem  lend  themselves  to  the 
activity  of  the  imagination,  to  a  play  of  sympathy  for  the 
father  seemingly  bereft  of  all  his  sons,  until  on  a  summer 
day  cool  and  late  he  sees  fluttering  in  the  wind  an  empty 
sleeve  of  army  blue,  beneath  a  face  that  he  knew, — a 
scene  which,  if  constructed  by  the  imagination,  cannot 
help  stirring  the  emotional  life  of  the  reader  and  giving 
him  proper  tones  and  inflections  in  oral  reading  while 
more  fully  realizing  the  price  paid  in  war  for  the  saving 
of  the  nation.  Very  much  of  our  thinking  does  not  turn 
on  images  or  mental  pictures.  We  do  not 
primarily  think  justice,  law,  kindness,  mercy  thoughts 
under  the  form  of  images,  though  by  a  second-  are  not 

'  ,  .,  .    .  images. 

ary  process  we  can  throw  these  ideas  into  con- 
crete examples  and  image  them  as  occurring  in  life. 
Very  many  ideas  cannot  be  made  concrete  in  that  way, 
as,  for  example,  the  ideas  of  infinity,  eternity.     Some- 
times an  indistinct  or  faded  image  does  duty  for  the  idea 


236  TU7NKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

of  horses  in  general,  but  in  such  cases  the  image  is  repre- 
sentative of  the  idea,  and  should  not  be  confounded  with 
the  idea.  Both  are  thoughts,  but  not  all  thoughts  are 
ideas  or  images.  Many  thoughts  are  propositions  and 
cannot  be  imaged  at  all. 

The  images  which  go  with  words  grow  in  fulness  as 
one's  experience  enlarges.     Take  the  word  fire.    The 
Putting     fi^ti  idea  was  formed  from  fire  in  the  stove  and 
content     in  the  smithy.     A  fuller  idea  resulted  from  the 
into  words.  of  ft  distant  mountain  on  fire.     Then  a 


distant  conflagration  resulting  in  the  loss  of  a  block  of 
town  property  gave  the  word  still  fuller  content.  Finally, 
the  destruction  of  the  State  Capitol,  in  which  part  of  the 
manuscript  of  a  book,  other  valuable  papers  and  records 
were  destroyed,  and  in  which  one  or  two  friends  almost 
lost  their  lives,  gave  a  meaning  to  the  word  fire  which  it 
never  had  before.  Without  doubt  it  hampers  the  mind 
and  impedes  the  logical  processes  of  thought  if  the  word 
invariably  calls  up  the  idea  of  these  fires  with  the  accom- 
panying emotions. 

We  saw  the  value  of  the  labor-saving  devices  intro- 
duced by  the  symbols  and  formulas  of  mathematics  and 

other  sciences.     Analysts  carry  forward  long 

mathemat-   trains  of  thought  by  means  of  symbols  whose 

icsaud     meaning  can  be,  but  is  not  always,  called  up 

with  the  successive  links  of  the  chain  of  reason  - 


ences. 


ing.  In  adding  a  column  of  figures,  in  solving 
an  algebraic  equation,  in  reading  a  work  on  higher  math- 
ematics or  logic,  in  thinking  the  formulas  of  chemistry, 
physics,  astronomy,  etc.,  and  in  dealing  with  objects, 
forces,  and  relations  which  have  been  accurately  and 
definitely  quantified,  the  thinking  may  be  carried  for- 
ward by  the  use  of  symbols  which  can  be  interpreted  and 
applied  whenever  the  occasion  requires,  but  whose  mean- 
ing is  not  always  present  to  the  mind.  In  reading  of 


THOUGHT  IN  LISTENING  AND  HEADING.        237 

things  which  have  not  been  quantified,  the  stream  of 
thought  often  flows  on  without  images,  or  mental  pic- 
tures, or  copies  of  sensations.  Nevertheless,  the  exami- 
nation of  any  school  reader  or  book  of  selections  from  the 
best  literature  will  show  how  our  best  writers  and  orators 
appeal  to  the  imagination,  and  to  what  a  large  field  the 
method  of  thinking  in  images  or  mental  pictures  is  appli- 
cable for  the  purpose  of  securing  due  appreciation  of 
good  literature  and  proper  expression  in  oral  reading. 

The  simplest  thinking  is  the  comparison  of  objects 
when  these  are  present  to  the  senses.  It  prevails  largely 
in  the  handicrafts  and  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  life. 
More  difficult  is  the  comparison  of  images  or  mental 
pictures  of  things  when  these  are  not  present  to  the 
senses,  but  must  be  recalled  by  the  memory.  This  think- 
ing is  essential  to  the  appreciation  of  poetry,  to  the  vivid 
presentation  of  thought,  and  should  not  be  neglected  by 
those  who  wish  to  move  the  multitudes  with  tongue  or 
pen.  u Imaging,"  says  Drydeu,  "is  in  itself  the  very 
height  and  life  of  poetry,  which,  by  a  kind  of  enthusiasm 
or  extraordinary  emotion  of  the  soul,  makes  it  seem  to 
us  that  we  behold  those  things  which  the  poet  paints." 
Higher,  from  the  scientist' s  point  of  view,  is  the  thinking 
in  substitute  symbols  which  stand  for  ideas  definitely 
fixed  or  quantified.  Higher  still  is  the  comparison  of 
abstract  and  general  ideas  through  expressive  symbols, 
including  their  application  to  the  problems  of  life ;  for 
this  is  the  kind  of  thinking  that  characterizes  the  scientist 
and  the  philosopher,  the  engineer  and  the  surgeon,  the 
editor  and  the  orator,  and,  in  fact,  all  whose  vocation 
has  risen  to  the  rank  of  a  profession.  But  highest  of 
all  is  the  thinking  which  creates  and  invents,  begetting 
progress  in  science  and  art,  in  literature  and  history,  in 
government  and  civilization. 


XV 

THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  WRITING, 
SPEAKING,  AND  ORAL  READING 


239 


The  highest  joy  is  the  freedom  of  the  mind  in  the  living  play  of 
all  its  powers. 

SCHILLER. 

The  historian  Mebuhr,  speaking  of  the  historian's  vocation,  re- 
marks that  he  who  calls  past  ages  into  being  enjoys  a  bliss  analo- 
gous to  that  of  creating.  With  still  more  truth  may  we  say  of  that 
mind  which  is  able,  in  the  conscious  awakening  of  all  its  powers,  to 
give  full  and  satisfactory  utterance  to  its  thick-coming  thoughts, 
that  it  enjoys  the  joy  of  a  creator.  If  there  is  one  bright  particu- 
lar hour  in  the  life  of  the  educated  man,  in  the  career  of  the 
scholar,  it  is  that  hour  for  which  all  other  hours  of  student-life  were 
made, — that  hour  in  which  he  gives  original  and  full  expression  to 
what  has  been  slowly  gendering  within  him. 

SHEDD. 

Unless  a  man  can  link  his  written  thoughts  with  the  everlasting 
wants  of  men  so  that  they  shall  draw  from  them  as  from  wells9 
there  is  no  more  immortality  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the 
eoul  than  to  the  muscles  and  bones. 

BEECHEB. 


240 


XV 

THE  STREAM  OF  THOUGHT  IN  WRITING, 
SPEAKING,  AND  ORAL  READING 

EVENTFUL  in  his  career  is  the  day  on  which  a  young 
person  speaks  in  public  for  the  first  time.  His  hands  and 
arms  are  in  his  way ;  his  lower  limbs  quake ;  The  first 
his  lips  and  throat  feel  dry  and  parched;  the  speech. 
vocal  organs  refuse  to  obey  his  bidding ;  he  expe- 
riences other  discomforts  which  he  cannot  explain 
and  which  are  due  to  embarrassment  and  nervousness. 
What  is  worst  of  all,  he  cannot  tell  what  has  gone 
wrong  in  his  mind.  If  his  speech  was  committed,  the 
memory  fails  to  recall  some  word  or  sentence  that  seems 
absolutely  essential  to  the  sequence  of  thought.  If  he 
speaks  extemporaneously,  the  stream  of  thought  stops 
flowing,  or  turns  back  in  eddies,  or  perhaps  spreads  out 
over  all  the  land  instead  of  moving  towards  the  proper 
goal.  In  fact,  all  these  annoyances  have  their  fontal 
source  in  the  mind,  in  a  play  of  emotions  in  which  stage- 
fright  is  the  principal  element.  To  this  young  man  some 
trusted  friend  should  whisper,  "Take  courage;"  for  if 
ever  in  his  life  a  young  man  needs  encouragement  it  is 
when  he  makes  his  first  speech  or  preaches  his  first 
sermon. 

Public  speakers  are  made,  not  born.     Native  talent  is 
helpful,  but  not  all  sufficient.     Most  of  the  ob- 
stacles  to  success  disappear  as  soon  as  one  has     speakers 
learned  to  think  on  his  feet ;  that  is,  to  control    are  made' 

not  born. 

the  stream  of  thought  when  facing  an  audience. 
There  are,  of  course,  exceptions  to  all  rules.    Some 

16  241 


242  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

young  men  possess  an  amount  of  self-confidence  -which 
is  proof  against  embarrassment.  Such  youth  are  some- 
Dangers  of  times  gifted  with  a  flow  of  words  that  is  fatal  to 
fluency,  ultimate  success.  It  enables  them  to  fill  time 
without  previous  preparation.  Bautain  describes  a  ' '  fatal 
facility  a  thousand  times  worse  than  hesitation  or  than 
silence,  which  drowns  thought  in  floods  of  words,  or  in  a 
torrent  of  copiousness,  sweeping  away  good  earth  and 
leaving  behind  sand  and  stones  alone.  Heaven  keep  us 
from  these  interminable  talkers,  such  as  are  often  to  be 
found  in  southern  countries,  who  deluge  you,  relatively 
to  anything  and  to  nothing,  with  a  shower  of  dissertation 
and  a  down-pouring  of  their  eloquence.  During  nine- 
tenths  of  the  time  there  is  not  one  rational  thought  in  the 
whole  of  this  twaddle,  carrying  along  in  its  course  every 
kind  of  rubbish  and  platitude.  The  class  of  persons 
who  produce  a  speech  so  easily  and  who  are  ready  at  the 
shortest  moment  to  extemporize  a  speech,  a  dissertation, 
or  a  homily,  know  not  how  to  compose  a  tolerable  sen- 
tence ;  and  I  repeat  that,  with  such  exceptions  as  defy 
all  rule,  he  who  has  not  learned  how  to  write  will  never 
know  how  to  speak."  * 

No  one  stands  in  greater  need  of  the  discipline  derived 
from  the  use  of  the  pen  than  those  who  overflow  with 
words  and  sentences.  Their  dearth  of  ideas  can  be  reme- 
died in  no  other  way.  The  sentence  which  escapes  from 
the  lips  is  fleeting  and  soon  forgotten.  The  sentence  in 
black  and  white,  which  stares  you  in  the  face  from  the 
written  page,  can  be  read  and  re-read  until  its  lack  of 
sense  and  its  wealth  of  nonsense  and  absurdity  grow  too 
glaring  to  be  endured.  Paragraph  after  paragraph  can 
thus  be  tested,  condensed,  and  stuffed  full  of  meaning. 
This  discipline  ultimately  enables  a  fluent  talker  to  speak 

*  Bautain' s   'Art  of  Extempore  Speaking,"  pages  68,  69. 


WRITING,  SPEAKING,  AND   ORAL   READING.      243 

with  force  and  to  the  point,  because  it  gradually  trans- 
forms his  habits  of  thinking,  deepening  the  stream  of 
thought  and  enabling  it  to  carry  craft  too  weighty  to  be 
borne  by  a  shallow  stream. 

The  person  who  is  afflicted  with  hesitation  and  embar- 
rassment also  stands  in  sore  need  of  the  discipline  of 
writing.  In  the  solitude  of  the  home  one  can  Hesitating 
take  time  to  find  and  fix  the  right  word,  to  weave  8P«aker8- 
it  into  sentences  that  stand  the  test  of  grammar,  logic, 
and  rhetoric,  and  to  arrange  a  line  of  thought  from  which 
everything  irrelevant  is  excluded.  Embarrassment  van- 
ishes with  the  advent  of  the  feeling  that  one  has  some- 
thing to  say.  The  growth  of  language,  which  invariably 
accompanies  the  evolution  and  clarification  of  thought, 
corrects  hesitation.  Soon  the  hands  drop  to  the  side  or 
obey  the  will  in  gesture,  and  the  feeling  of  ease  begins 
to  color  the  delivery.  Nothing  more  beneficial  can 
happen  to  a  young  preacher  than  the  call  to  preach  the 
same  discourse  a  number  of  times  in  succession,  each 
time  to  a  different  audience.  Repetition  will  make  him 
a  master  of  the  train  of  ideas,  improving  his  phraseology, 
and  deeping  the  stream  of  thought.  "Who  has  not 
watched  with  delight  the  improvement  in  the  presenta- 
tion of  a  lecture  heard  from  the  same  lips  half  a  dozen 
times  in  succession  ?  The  change  for  the  better  was  due 
to  the  deepening,  straightening,  and  improvement  of  the 
channel  in  which  the  stream  of  thought  seems  to  flow. 

If  a  student  several  times  each  month  during  a  college 
course  writes  out  and  fixes  a  line  of  argument  for  a 
debate,  he  can  acquire  the  power  to  fix  and 

Writing. 

retain  the  thoughts  as  fast  as  he  writes.     The 
habit  of  memorizing  the  words  is,  of  course,  pernicious, 
because  it  is  apt  to  make  him  the  slave  of  his  manuscript, 
to  destroy  his  freedom  in  meeting  the  blows  of  an  antag  • 
onist,  and  to  divest  him  of  the  glow  of  feeling  and  anima- 


244          THINKING   AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

tion  which  gives  force  to  the  delivery  while  the  mind  is 
engaged  in  the  elaboration  of  the  argument.  The  sequence 
of  ideas  rather  than  of  words  should  be  fixed  in  the  inind, 
very  much  as  the  student  of  Euclid  fixes  in  his  mind, 
not  the  words,  but  the  ideas  which  constitute  the  chain 
of  proof.  This  kind  of  practice  gives  a  young  speaker 
the  sense  of  security  without  destroying  his  freedom  in 
modifying  the  line  of  thought  while  standing  upon  his 
feet. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  folly  of  much  criticism  in 
teaching  is  very  apparent.  The  current  of  thought  is  fre- 
quently interrupted  by  drawing  attention  at  the 
wrong  time  to  mistakes  in  grammar  and  errors 
of  pronunciation.  The  proper  time  for  such  criticism  is 
after  the  movement  of  thought  has  reached  the  goal ;  and 
even  then  the  critic  should  not  call  attention  to  too  many 
defects  at  one  time ;  otherwise  the  effect  will  be  to  dis- 
courage and  bewilder  the  pupil. 

The  stream  of  thought  is  the  most  essential  thing  in 
writing,  speaking,  and  oral  reading.  The  management 

me  of  face  and  hands  and  feet,  the  postures  of  the 
thought,  body,  and  the  vocal  utterance  should,  of  course, 
not  be  neglected.  The  intelligent  counsel  of  a  good 
friend  is  needed  to  point  out  mannerisms  and  eccen- 
tricities. The  practice  prescribed  by 'a  wise  teacher  is 
helpful  in  pruning  the  delivery  of  defects  and  harmful 
habits  which  are  sure  to  grow  where  attention  to  the 
thought  sinks  the  delivery  into  the  subconscious  realm. 
Nevertheless,  the  main  thing  in  writing  and  speaking  is 
the  stream  of  thought.  A  profound  truth  was  stated  by 
the  Kentucky  backwoodsman,  who  said  that  he  would 
have  it  in  him  to  become  as  great  an  orator  as  Henry 
Clay,  were  it  not  that  he  found  himself  lacking  in  two 
things :  Whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  for  a  great 
speech  presented  itself  he  never  knew  what  to  say  nor  how 


WRITING,  SPEAKING,  AND   ORAL   READING.     245 

to  say  it.  The  how  is  more  easily  acquired  than  the  what. 
Both  should  receive  attention,  from  the  kindergarten  to 
the  university.  The  getting  of  something  to  say  is  inven- 
tion. It  is  the  one  thing  in  which  special  teachers  and 
special  courses  give  least  help.  The  power  of  invention 
is  acquired  by  years  of  effort  and  discipline.  Tributaries 
from  many  sources  must  pour  into  the  stream  of  thought 
before  it  becomes  full,  copious,  and  capable  of  carrying 
great  thoughts,  or  of  supplying  the  motive  power  for 
great  undertakings. 

In  writing  nothing  should  be  allowed  to  interfere  with 
the  stream  of  thought.  Some  can  write  in  the  midst  of 
noise.  Others  must  seek  silence  and  solitude.  mn- 
Gifted  men  like  Horace  Greeley  can  write  in  derances- 
the  cars,  upon  the  knee,  anywhere.  Habit  has  much  to 
do  with  the  art  of  composing.  In  any  event,  the  stream 
of  thought  must  be  kept  flowing.  In  so  far  as  the  rules 
of  grammar,  logic,  rhetoric  have  become  unconscious 
guiding  principles,  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  evolu- 
tion of  thought.  In  so  far  as  they  absorb  the  attention 
and  hinder  the  flow  of  thought,  they  should  be  cast  to 
the  winds  during  the  first  glow  of  writing.  Better  think 
of  these  during  the  process  of  rewriting,  polishing,  and 
correcting. 

So  great  a  thinker  and  successful  a  writer  as  Charles 
Darwin  makes  the  following  suggestive  statement  con- 
cerning his  own  methods  of  composing  : 

"There  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  fatality  in  my  mind,  lead- 
ing me  to  put  at  first  my  statement  or  proposition  in  a 
wrong  or  awkward  form.     Formerly  I  used  to        How 
think  about  my  sentences  before  writing  them      Darwin 
down  ;  but  for  several  years  I  have  found  that    ' 
it  saves  time  to  scribble  in  a  vile  hand  whole  pages  as 
quickly  as  I  possibly  can,  contracting  half  the  words ; 
and  then  correct  deliberately.     Sentences  thus  scribbled 


246  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

down  are  often  better  ones  than  I  could  have  written 
deliberately."  * 

No  one  should  speak  as  he  writes,  nor  should  any  one 
write  as  he  speaks.  Few  men  are  satisfied  with  the 
stenographic  report  of  a  speech,  exactly  true  to  the  lan- 
guage at  the  time  of  delivery.  A  reporter  who  cannot 
make  a  speech  read  better,  without  changing  the  line  of 
thought,  than  if  it  were  printed  exactly  as  spoken  is  not 
a  master  of  the  art  of  reporting.  Written  discourse 
abounds  in  longer  sentences,  in  more  involved  construc- 
tions, in  forms  of  diction  which  please  the  eye,  but  are 
too  cumbersome  for  the  voice  and  the  ear.  The  public 
speaker  is  prone  to  use  short,  simple  sentences  in  which 
the  subject  of  the  sentence  does  not  pass  out  of  the  mind 
before  the  predicate  is  reached.  His  style  abounds  in 
questions  which  arrest  the  attention  of  the  hearer  ;  if 
necessary,  he  indulges  in  colloquial  expressions  to  which 
the  ears  of  the  hearer  are  accustomed,  thereby  bringing 
himself  nearer  the  common  people. 

Upon  a  speech   delivered  in  the  British  Parliament 
high  praise  was  bestowed  in  the  hearing  of  Mr.  Fox. ' 
FOX'S opin-   "Does    it    read  well?"    he    inquired.     "Yes, 

ion.  grandly,"  was  the  reply.  "Then,"  said  he, 
"it  was  not  a  good  speech."  It  may  be  difficult  to  point 
out  exactly  wherein  speaking  differs  from  writing  so  far 
as  the  stream  of  thought  is  concerned  j  yet  one  feels  the 
Written  difference.  Austin  Phelps  shows  the  difference 
discourse,  ^y  using  an  extract  from  an  essay  on  the  "End 
of  God  in  Creation  :" 

' '  What  was  the  final  cause  of  creation  ?  The  transition 
from  the  unconditioned  to  the  conditioned  is  incompre- 
hensible by  the  human  faculties.  What  that  transition 
is.  and  how  it  could  take  place,  and  how  it  became  an 

*  "  Autobiography,"  page  80. 


WRITING.   SPEAKING,  AND   ORAL   READING.     247 

actualized  occurrence,  it  is  confessed  on  all  hands  are 
absolutely  incomprehensible  enigmas.  We  cannot  rea- 
sonably imagine,  then,  that,  if  we  are  thus  ignorant  of 
the  nature  and  mode  of  this  stupendous  fact,  we  can 
nevertheless  comprehend  its  primitive  ground,  can  ex- 
plore its  ultimate  reasons,  can  define  its  final  motive. 
Nor  can  we  think  to  unveil  the  infinite  soul  at  that 
moment  when,  according  to  our  conceptions,  the  eternal 
uniformity  was  interrupted  and  a  new  mode  of  being, 
absolutely  unintelligible  to  us,  was  first  introduced.  We 
cannot  think  to  grasp  all  the  views  which  were  present 
to  that  soul,  extending  from  the  unbeginning  past  to  the 
unending  future,  and  to  fathom  all  its  purposes,  and  to 
analyze  all  its  motives.  If  anywhere,  we  must  here 
repel  everything  like  dogmatic  interpretation  of  the 
phenomena,  and  admit  whatever  is  put  forth  only  as 
conjectural  in  its  nature,  or,  at  all  events,  partial,  and 
belonging  far  more  to  the  surface  than  to  the  interior  of 
the  subject." 

One  can  easily  see  how  ill  adapted  to  oral  delivery 
these  sentences  are.      Phelps  throws  the  same  leading 
thoughts  and  succession  of  thoughts  into  a  form     Example 
adapted  for  public  speaking  :  of  spoken 

"  Why  did  God  create  the  universe  !  Crea-  ^scoune- 
tion  is  incomprehensible  to  man.  What  is  creation? 
How  was  it  possible  ?  How  did  it  ever  come  to  be !  I 
cannot  answer.  Can  you  ?  Every  man  of  common  sense 
confesses  his  ignorance  here.  But  if  we  are  ignorant  of 
what  creation  is,  and  how  it  is,  can  we  imagine  that  we 
understand  why  it  is!  Shall  we  think  to  unveil  the 
mind  of  God  in  the  stupendous  act!  That  moment 
when  God  said  '  Let  there  be  light'  was  a  moment  of 
which  we  can  know  nothing  but  that  'there  was  light.' 
Shall  we  think  to  see  all  that  God  saw  1  Can  we  look 
through  the  past  without  beginning,  and  the  future  with- 


248  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

out  end,  and  fathom  all  His  purposes  and  all  His  motives  t 
Can  we,  by  searching,  find  out  God !  If  we  must  repel 
assertion  anywhere,  we  must  do  so  here.  Whatever  we 
may  think,  it  is  but  little  more  than  guess-work.  At  the 
b^est  it  can  be  but  knowing  in  part.  The  most  we  can 
know  must  be  on  the  surface.  It  cannot  penetrate  to  the 
heart  of  the  matter."  * 

The  plan  of  writing  down  a  line  of  discussion  helps  to 
clarify  the  thought.  Casting  aside  the  manuscript  as 
soon  as  the  sequence  of  ideas  is  fixed  in  the  mind  eman- 
cipates the  speaker  from  the  written  page.  Several  years 
TWO  kinds  °f  practice  develop  two  kinds  of  style,  one 
of  style,  adapted  for  writing,  the  other  for  speaking. 
After  this  stage  of  development  is  reached,  it  may  be  no 
longer  necessary  to  formulate  on  paper  every  line  of 
argument.  Nevertheless,  the  pen  cannot  be  laid  aside 
entirely  without  detriment  to  the  quality  of  the  thought 
and  the  effectiveness  of  oral  discourse. 

Everything  calculated  to  interfere  with  the  stream  of 
thought  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be  eliminated  from  the 
act  of  composing.  Some  men  find  the  pen  an  irksome 
drain  upon  their  energy  and  vitality.  Their  thought 
moves  faster  than  they  can  write.  The  employment  of  a 

stenographer  aids  them  in  the  work  of  corn- 
Dictating. 

posing.  The  danger  against  which  they  must 
guard  is  a  growing  dislike  to  the  use  of  the  pen,  and  a 
deterioration  of  their  style  resulting  in  the  obliteration 
of  the  difference  which  distinguishes  effective  speaking 
from  successful  writing. 

There  is  a  radical  difference  between  a  lecture  and  an 
oration.  Public  speaking  which  partakes  of  the  nature 
of  the  lecture,  aiming  primarily  at  instruction  or  the 
communication  of  knowledge,  may  be  assisted  by  ex- 

*  "  Men  and  Books,"  pages  221,  222. 


WRITING,  SPEAKING,  AND    ORAL   READING.      249 

perimeuts,  by  maps,  charts,  and  pictures  upon  the  screen, 
by  specimens  and  models  designed  to  throw  light  upon 
the  theme  under  discussion.  Public  speaking  j^u^ 
which  partakes  of  the  nature  of  oratory,  its  aim  and 
being  to  move  the  will  to  action,  is  generally  orations- 
limited  in  the  appliances  it  can  utilize,  and  in  the  way  it 
must  appeal  to  the  hearer.  It  must  not  exhaust  the 
attention  of  the  hearer  by  consuming  his  time  in  the 
establishment  of  principles,  and  in  showing,  by  lengthy 
details,  how  results  are  obtained.  Far  better  is  it  to  cite 
authorities,  to  quote  their  language  if  necessary,  and  to 
make  the  application  to  the  case  in  hand.  In  referring 
to  recognized  standards,  like  a  dictionary,  a  treatise  on 
law,  or  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  it  is  always  best  to  quote 
the  exact  words.  This  is  also  more  appropriate  on  the 
written  page  than  a  reproduction  of  the  thought  in  in- 
ferior forms  of  statement.  In  public  speaking,  however, 
the  original  statement  may  be  too  involved,  and  a  break- 
ing up  into  shorter,  simpler  sentences  may  aid  the  for- 
ward movement  of  the  stream  of  thought.  The  first  aim 
of  the  speaker  is  to  be  understood.  If  he  fails  to  reach 
the  understanding,  he  can  neither  persuade  nor  convince, 
nor  spur  the  will  to  action. 

There  is  another  limitation  to  the  kind  of  public  speak- 
ing which  partakes  of  the  nature  of  oratory.  The  idea 
which  the  speaker  seeks  to  have  realized  in  the  vote,  or 
verdict,  or  conduct  of  others,  must  be  carried  back  to 
the  necessary  ideas  of  the  hearer.  The  full  discussion  of 
this  peculiarity  in  the  stream  of  thought  belongs  to 
treatises  on  rhetoric.  Such  a  discussion  can  be  found  in 
Theremin's  Ehetoric,  translated  by  Shedd.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  the  recognition  of  this  principle  makes  the 
speaker  a  more  thoughtful  man.  It  causes  him  to  rely 
for  the  effect  he  seeks  to  produce  upon  solid  and  sterling 
qualities  rather  than  showy  rhetoric.  It  tends  to  make 


250  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

the  stream  of  thought  flow  deeper,  fuller,  yet  clearer  and 
with  more  power.  Any  interference  with  the  stream  of 
thought  while  the  speaker  is  before  the  audience  may  be 
disastrous.  The  crying  of  a  child,  or  an  outburst  of 
feeling  in  the  audience,  or  some  other  mishap  may  dis- 
concert his  mind.  Legouv6  tells  how  the  world-renowned 
advocate,  Berryer,  lost  a  very  good  cause  by  unconsciously 
starting  in  sorting  h*8  speech  in  too  high  a  key.  i '  His 
too  Mgh  temples  soon  felt  the  unusual  fatigue  of  the 
a  key>  larynx  ;  from  the  temples  it  passed  to  the  brain  ; 
the  strain  being  too  great,  the  brain  gave  way ;  the 
thought  became  confused,  and  the  language  disarranged 
and  indistinct."  He  broke  down  in  open  court  because 
he  never  thought  of  descending  from  the  lofty  perch  on 
which  his  voice  started  at  the  beginning  of  his  plea. 
Legouve"  claims,  and  the  experience  of  many  speakers 
confirms  the  claim,  that  the  abuse  of  the  high  notes  has 
not  infrequently  affected  injuriously  the  orator's  very 
flow  of  thought. 

Three  generals  made  stump  speeches  on  a  joint  trip 
during  the  last  Presidential  campaign.  One  day  the 
The  three  name  of  the  candidate  of  the  other  great  politi- 
generais.  QQ^  party  was  mentioned,  when  there  was  a  per- 
fect storm  of  applause  in  the  gallery.  A  second  reference 
elicited  similar  applause,  and  the  disconcerted  general, 
who  had  bravely  faced  the  enemy  on  the  battle-field,  took 
his  seat.  The  next  general,  walking  on  a  crutch,  came 
forward,  and  requested  that  all  who  had  been  sent  to 
disturb  the  meeting  should  rise.  No  one  moved.  He 
exclaimed,  "There  are  some  cowards  here."  Then  he 
asked  that  all  who  had  come  to  listen  and  learn  should 
rise.  Everybody  rose.  He  exclaimed,  "  There  are  some 
liars  here."  Next  he  announced  that  any  one  attempting 
to  disturb  the  meeting  would  be  pitched  out  of  doors,  the 
general  on  the  crutch  declaring  he  would  lead  the  attack. 


WRITING,  SPEAKING,  AND   ORAL  READING.     251 

Soon  a  man  arose  as  if  to  ask  a  question.  Whereupon  a 
big  burly  policeman  threw  the  fellow  out,  and  there  was 
no  further  outside  interference  with  the  stream  of  thought 
in  the  mind  of  speaker  or  listeners.  The  man  on  the 
platform  always  has  the  advantage  over  disturbers  in  the 
audience,  provided  he  is  master  of  his  faculties,  full  of 
resources,  and  quick  at  repartee. 

The  schools  of  France  have  been  quoted  to  show  the 
uselessness  of  exercises  in  oral  reading.  As  in  other 
things,  so  in  school  matters,  distance  lends  en- 
chantment to  the  view.  Legouv6,  in  his  lectures  schools  of 
on  the  "Art  of  Beading,"  mentions  with  ap-  France. 
proval  that  in  the  great  Republic  of  North  America 
reading  aloud  is  justly  considered  one  of  the  very  first 
elements  of  a  child's  education,  whilst  in  France,  read- 
ing aloud  does  not  reach  even  the  sorry  dignity  of  a 
diverting  art,  but  is  regarded  as  a  curiosity,  a  luxury, 
often  something  hardly  better  than  a  pretension.*  This 
was  written  several  decades  ago,  and  may  not  be  just  to 
the  French  nation  at  this  time.  The  value  of  oral  read- 
ing depends  upon  the  way  in  which  it  is  done.  If  it 
amounts  to  no  more  than  calling  words  and  parrot-like 
imitation  of  the  teacher's  manner  of  reading,  the  exer- 
cise is  a  waste  of  time.  The  mastery  of  the  The  read- 
new  words  and  of  the  thought  embodied  should  in&  lesson. 
precede  the  attempt  to  read  a  lesson  aloud.  The  mastery 
of  the  words  involves  ability  to  recognize  them  at  sight, 
to  pronounce  them  with  fluency  and  ease,  and  to  spell 
them  by  letter  and  by  sound.  It  implies  both  a  knowl- 
edge of  their  meaning  and  ability  to  use  them  in  a  sen- 

*  "  In  the  name,  then,  of  a  sound  condition  of  mind  and  body, 
and  in  the  confident  hope  of  obtaining  both  for  France,  I  call  on 
our  people  to  imitate  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America  by  making  the  art  of  reading  aloud  the  very  corner-stone 
of  public  education." — Legouve"'s  "  Art  of  Reading,"  page  145. 


252  THINKING   AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

tence.  An  average  series  of  readers  has  a  vocabulary  of 
five  thousand  words.  The  meaning  of  all  these  words 
may  be  known  at  sight,  but  ability  to  use  them  by  tongue 
or  pen  is  quite  another  thing,  the  vocabulary  of  most 
persons  being  not  much  in  excess  of  a  thousand  words. 
The  thought  can  be  mastered  by  an  exercise  in  silent 
reading,  followed  by  the  oral  and  written  reproduction 
of  the  lesson.  The  mastery  of  the  thought  is  a  condition 
of  proper  vocal  utterance. 

There  is  a  difference  between  acting  and  reading.  The 
actor  endeavors  to  speak  and  act  after  the  exact  manner 
Acting  and  of  the  character  whom  he  impersonates.  The 

reading,  reader  aims  to  suggest  the  thought  instead  of 
imitating  the  original  actors.  An  actor  will  go  through 
the  motion  of  stabbing  or  shooting  an  enemy  ;  the  reader 
simply  aims  to  suggest  the  thought  of  what  was  done. 
Exercises  in  breathing,  gesture,  tone,  pitch,  cadence, 
voice  may  be  needed  for  the  sake  of  correcting  defects  ; 
nevertheless,  everything  connected  with  oral  reading 
should  turn  on  and  culminate  in  the  stream  of  thought. 
If  anything  else  is  made  the  object  of  chief  regard,  the 
main  purpose  of  oral  reading  is  lost.  It  furnishes  an 
excellent  test  by  means  of  which  the  teacher  can  deter- 
mine whether  the  pupil  understands  what  he  reads  or  is 
merely  calling  words  after  the  manner  of  a  parrot.  To 
correct  the  unnatural  tones  acquired  in  the  school-room, 
the  pupil  is  wisely  exhorted  to  read  as  he  would  talk. 

Reading     ^n  ^ne  enC°r^  to  develop  a  style  of  reading  ex- 
and        actly  like  talking,    some  teachers   ruin   their 
ang-     natural  way  of  talking  and  reading.     In  con- 
versation,  they  talk  as  if  they   were  trying  to   read. 
While   reading,  they  seem  to  be  trying  to  talk.     The 
human  voice  is  so  made  that  it  puts  the  quotation  marks 
to  selections  recited  from  memory  and  to  sentences  read 
from  a  manuscript  or  book.     As  a  rule,  a  person  can 


WRITING,  SPEAKING,  AND   ORAL   READING.      253 

read  best  what  he  himself  has  written ;  yet  his  voice 
tells  whether  his  sentences  and  thoughts  are  framed  and 
evolved  at  the  moment  of  delivery,  or  taken  from  a 
manuscript  prepared  beforehand.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
no  one  can  read  as  he  talks  or  speaks.  A  blindfolded 
listener  could  tell  when  Spurgeon  was  reading  or  speak- 
ing. The  same  was  true  of  Charles  Sumner,  and  of  every 
other  great  speaker  America  has  produced. 

To  think  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  is  the 
privilege  of  him  who  can  read.  To  plant  these  thoughts 
in  other  minds  by  reading  aloud  is  a  noble  achievement. 
To  give  in  speech  something  from  our  own  resources  that 
others  shall  treasure  is  nobler  still,  because  it  links  our 
life  with  the  creative  workers  of  the  world.  But  noblest 
of  all  is  it  to  write  what  shall  be  read  by  our  own  and 
future  generations,  in  our  own  and  other  lands,  as  a 
source  of  light  and  life,  of  uplift  and  enjoyment.  The 
worst  punishment  that  can  befall  a  human  being  is  to  be 
cut  off  from  participation  in  the  movement  of  the  race 
towards  greater  well-being  and  perfection.  One  naturally 
desires  to  employ  his  gifts  and  powers  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind.  The  stream  of  thought  determines  what  we 
shall  accomplish.  If  others  are  to  be  benefited  by  our 
thinking,  they  must  think  our  thoughts.  The  stream  of 
our  thought  must  carry  ideas  of  interest  and  value  to 
them,  ideas  they  will  care  to  get  and  keep.  If  Abiding 
our  thinking  is  busy  with  things  of  transient  thoughts. 
interest,  transient  will  be  our  influence  over  others.  If 
our  thought  is  to  abide,  it  must  deal  with  verities  of 
eternal  moment  to  humanity,  with  the  works  of  Him 
who  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  with  the  truth  of 
Him  who  is  "the  same  yesterday,  to-day/  and  forever." 


XVI 

KINDS  OF  THINKING 


266 


"  What  *ve  want  is  not  the  example  of  Democritus,  who  put  out 
his  eyes  that,  ceasing  to  read,  he  might  think  the  more ;  or  the 
example  of  Pythagoras,  who  devoted  his  evenings  to  solemn 
reflections  on  the  events  of  the  day.  We  want  men  and  women  of 
all-round  activities  who  will  set  apart  an  hour  for  thought's  own 
sake,  and  thus  fulfil  the  exhortation  of  a  wise  man  whose  practice 
it  was  to  '  sort  his  thoughts  and  label  them.'  " 

T.  S.  KNOWLSON. 

"  People  read  ?  great  deal  more  than  they  used  to  do, — there  is 
more  to  be  read, — but  they  think  less.  The  chief  danger  of  to-day 
is  that  of  intellectual  apathy.  Life  is  so  complex,  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  so  keen,  and  pleasures  of  various  kinds  so  cheap  and 
abundant,  that  men  and  women  seem  to  live  entirely  on  the  surface 
of  things.  What  we  need  is  a  call  to  independent  thought." 

IBID 


266 


XVI 
KINDS  OF  THINKING 

As  was  pointed  out  in  the  first  chapter,  the  word  thinking 
has  several  meanings.  One  can  hardly  write  or  speak  on 
education  without  using  the  word  in  more  senses  than 
one,  and  it  is  not  always  convenient  to  break  the  line  of 
thought  or  discussion  by  indicating  with  a  definition  the 
meaning  intended.  This  is  a  violation  of  Pascal's  rule, 
that  no  terms  in  the  least  obscure  or  equivocal  shall  be 
used  without  defining  them.  Pascal  possessed  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  intellects  the  world  has  ever  known. 
His  style  has  been  described  as  a  garment  of  light.  Few 
thinkers  have  attained,  to  an  equal  degree,  clearness  of 
expression  and  perfect  grasp  of  the  truth.  Nowhere  are 
these  qualities  more  essential  than  in  lectures  and 
treatises  on  teaching.  It  is  a  misfortune  that  so  useful  a 
word  as  thinking  should  ever  be  ambiguous.  The  use  of 
equivocal  terms  leads  to  misunderstandings  in  Equivocal 
theory  and  faults  in  practice.  The  advantage  terms- 
of  technical  terms  lies  in  the  fact  that  after  they  have 
been  clearly  defined  they  can  always  be  used  in  the  same 
sense.  The  disadvantage  in  the  use  of  technical  terms  is 
that  they  convey  no  meaning  to  minds  unfamiliar  with  the 
terminology  of  the  specific  science  to  which  they  belong. 
Hence  the  best  thinkers  cannot  escape  the  necessity  of 
employing  words  in  current  use  to  convey  their  thoughts. 
As  soon  as  words  pass  into  common  parlance  they  acquire 
a  variety  of  meanings  and  of  shades  of  meaning.  The 

17  257 


258          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

thought  of  a  people  is  always  more  or  less  in  advance  of 
their  vocabulary ;  the  same  word  must  be  used  in  several 
meanings,  because  no  other  term  equally  simple  and  con- 
venient can  serve  as  a  substitute.  No  one.  for  instance, 
can  write  or  speak  in  the  English  language  without  using 
the  word  is  in  both  its  figurative  and  its  literal  sense. 
The  connection  must  show  what  signification  is  intended. 
The  term  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  word  thinking. 
thinking.  The  connection  must  show  whether  it  is  used  in 
the  colloquial  sense  of  guessing,  or  in  the  logical  sense  of  a 
comparison  of  two  ideas  through  their  relation  to  a  third, 
or  in  the  broader  sense  of  imaging,  reflecting,  and  react- 
ing upon  what  one  reads  or  hears,  or  in  a  still  broader 
sense,  to  designate  any  form  of  mental  activity.  Since 
the  popular  mind  employs  the  word  as  a  general  term  to 
cover  the  entire  intellectual  life,  it  is  convenient  to  specify 
Kinds  of  kinds  of  thinking  by  the  use  of  adjectives  like 
thinking,  independent,  loose,  continuous,  organic,  tech- 
nical, scientific,  and  other  qualifying  phrases.  Inasmuch 
as  these  distinctions  are  made  for  the  purpose  Of  char- 
acterizing differences  observed  in  the  thought-processes 
of.  the  maturer  life  for  which  our  pupils  are  to  be  trained, 
it  is  helpful  to  glance  at  them  for  the  purpose  of  seeing 
the  bearing  of  what  we  do  at  school  upon  habits  of 
thought  beyond  the  school. 

What  is  meant  by  an  independent  thinker  ?    Evidently 
one  who  is  not  indebted  to  others  for  the  inferences 
Theinde-    which  he  draws  or  the  conclusions  at  which 
pendent     he  arrives.     Many  practices  at  school  are  sub- 
ier'     versive  of  habits  of  independent  thinking.    The 
assignment  of  lessons  of  such  length  and  difficulty  that 
the  weaker  pupils  must  rely  upon  their  stronger  class- 
mates for  help,  or  resort  to  "coaches,  keys,  and  ponies" 
for  assistance,  makes  them  helpless  instead  of  self-reliant, 
and  cultivates  the  memory  at  the  expense  of  the  under- 


KINDS  OF  THINKING.  259 

standing.  The  lessons  should  be  graded  so  as  to  beget 
the  sense  of  mastery.  Every  difficulty  that  is  overcome 
by  a  pupil's  own  efforts  tends  to  develop  in  him  an  am- 
bition to  conquer  other  difficulties.  Few,  if  any,  joys  can 
be  compared  with  the  ecstatic  joy  of  victory.  Moreover, 
it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  teacher  to  beget  in  the  pupil 
a  love  of  truth  more  potent  and  profound  than  reverence 
for  a  favorite  authority.  On  the  contrary,  the  feeling  of 
independence  and  the  desire  of  distinction  by  differing 
from  other  people  may  grow  into  a  passion.  This  seldom 
does  much  harm  in  the  case  of  an  editor  or  a  professor. 
If  you  give  either  of  them  leave  to  criticise  and  to  print, 
he  is  well  satisfied.  If  he  is  elected  to  a  board  of  man- 
agers or  the  national  assembly,  his  critical  faculty  and  his 
fondness  for  finding  fault  and  thinking  differently  from 
other  people  may  make  him  a  hinderance  to  the  leaders, 
who  must  get  things  done,  or  cause  him  to  stand  apart, 
like  Ewald,  in  the  German  Eeichstag,  as  a  one-man 
party,  whose  views  must  be  ignored  on  all  questions  re- 
quiring prompt  action  or  immediate  decision.  To  coun- 
teract this  tendency  in  a  youth  of  strong  personality,  it 
is  difficult  to  devise  anything  better  than  the  moulding 
supremacy  of  class-spirit,  the  chastening  influence  of  a 
a  contest  in  the  literary  society,  and  the  relentless  lessons 
which  a  boy  gets  on  the  play-ground  when  he  will  not 
play  because  the  game  does  not  go  his  way.  Indepen- 
dence of  thought  in  the  quest  of  truth,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  concert  of  action  for  the  public  good,  on  the  other, 
are  two  of  the  most  useful  lessons  to  be  learned  at  school. 
At  this  point  there  is  room  for  a  kind  of  child-study 
apart  from  a  syllabus  of  set  questions,  and  leading  to  re- 
sults which  cannot  be  tabulated  in  statistics  or  averages. 
The  average  in  such  cases  is  untrue  as  a  guide,  and  may 
be  utterly  subversive  of  correct  habits  of  thinking,  or 
the  correct  method  of  dealing  with  the  individual.  To 


260          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

give  enough  optional  or  specific  work  for  the  brightest, 
and  not  too  much  general  or  required  work  for  the 
slowest,  is  an  ideal  hard  to  realize  in  the  assignment  of 
work,  and  yet  of  supreme  importance  in  the  endeavor  to 
develop  habits  of  independent  thinking. 

There  is  great  need  for  independent  thinking  under  a 
system  of  popular  government,  especially  on  the  part  of 

indepen-    those  who  exercise  the  elective  franchise.     In 
dent  think-  the    modern    caucus  or   convention  one  man 

popular     often  does  the  thinking  for  the  rest.     "If  he  is 

govern-     the  man  whom  I  follow,  I  call  him  my  leader. 

ment.      jf  ke  jg  ^e  man  -^jjojjj  yOU  follow,  I  call  him 

your  boss."  When  the  leader  or  boss  is  not  sufficiently 
sure  of  his  ability  to  bind  the  others  by  his  orders,  those 
who  have  a  following  are  invited  to  a  conference,  at 
which  a  line  of  action  is  agreed  upon  to  relieve  the  mul- 
titudes of  the  trouble  of  thinking.  A  delegate  who  was 
giving  very  vociferous  vent  to  his  feelings  was  rebuked 
by  a  colleague,  saying,  "Just  think  where  you  are."  He 
replied  with  more  emphasis  than  elegance,  "I  was  not 
brought  here  to  think,  but  to  shout."  Independent 
thinking  is  as  hard  work  as  the  average  man  cares  to  do. 
He  craves  a  guide,  an  authority  to  relieve  him  of  the 
trouble  of  thinking  for  himself.  Outside  of  their  par- 
ticular vocation  or  profession  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
at  times  for  the  strongest  intellects  to  accept  the  conclu- 
sions of  other  thinkers.  The  man  who  has  been  success- 
ful at  making  money,  and  who  finds  that  his  thinking  in 
financial  matters  is  trustworthy,  often  makes  himself 
obnoxious  by  assuming  that  his  opinions  and  conclusions 
should  be  accorded  equal  weight  in  every  other  sphere 
of  human  activity.  There  is  no  better  place  to  teach  the 
individual  his  limitations  without  destroying  his  inde- 
pendence as  a  thinker  than  the  atmosphere  of  a  great 
university. 


KINDS  OF  THINKING.  261 

The  dependent  thinker  is  aptly  described  by  a  writer 
in  Leisure  Hours  in  the  following  language  : 

"It  is  sometimes  amusing  to  hear  a  man  of  this  order 
coming  out  strongly  with  opinions  which  he  would  have 
you  believe  are  thoroughly  independent  and     Thede_ 
original,  but  which  you  can  trace  directly  to     pendent 
the  source  from  which  he  got  them.    You  could     thinker- 
indicate  those  sources  if  it  were  not  uncivil  to  do  so,  very 
much  as  a  shrewd  but  not  very  well-behaved  old  gentle- 
man is  said  to  have  indicated  at  church,  in  a  tone  suffi- 
ciently loud  to  be  heard  by  the  clergyman  and  the  con- 
gregation,    too, — which    was    especially    galling, — the 
authors  to  whom  the  said  clergyman  had  been  indebted 
for  his  sermon,  'That's  Sherlock  ;  that's  Tillotson  ;  that's 
Jeremy  Taylor.'     'I  tell  you  what,  fellow,  if  you  don't 
hold  your  tongue,  I'll  have  you  turned  out  of  church.' 
'That's  his  own.'" 

The  men  who  must  depend  upon  others  to  do  their 
thinking  for  them  deserve  pity  and  commiseration.  The 
bureaus  which  thrive  by  furnishing  essays  and  orations 
for  commencements,  sermons  for  special  occasions,  and 
even  for  the  regularly  recurring  Sunday  services,  show 
how  often  our  schools  make  their  pupils  dependent 
instead  of  self-reliant.  On  being  cast  upon  the  sea  of 
life,  their  minds  resemble  a  craft  which  has  lost  its  rud- 
der ;  they  drift  with  wind  and  tide,  uncertain  where  they 
shall  land.  Their  thinking  is  not  grounded  on  first  prin- 
ciples ;  hence  their  minds  reflect  transient  views  on  every 
question.  The  strong  personality  in  the  sunlight  of  whose 
influence  they  happened  last  to  bask  moulds  their  opinions 
and  directs  their  intellectual  life  until  they  move  into  the 
sphere  of  new  influences,  constantly  resembling  those 
whom  Bandolph  of  Roanoke  stigmatized  as  dough-faces 
because  their  votes  were  under  the  control  of  party  leaders 
and  were  cast  regardless  of  their  convictions  of  right. 


262          THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

The  men  whom  the  world  reveres  as  great  thinkers 
have  been  distinguished  by  their  ability  to  give  continu- 
continuous  ous  thought  to  whatever  engaged  their  serious 
thought,  attention.  Newton  claimed  that  he  made  his 
discoveries  by  always  thinking  about  them.  His  biogra- 
phers relate  how  he  would  for  hours  remain  seated  upon 
his  bed,  half  dressed,  absorbed  in  thought,  forgetful  of 
his  surroundings.  Stories  of  the  absent-mindedness  of 
Socrates,  Sydney  Smith,  Neander,  Edison,  and  many 
others  who  attained  eminence  as  philosophers,  authors, 
or  inventors,  are  interesting  indeed,  but  they  throw  no 
light  upon  the  way  in  which  these  men  acquired  their 
marvellous  powers ;  they  merely  show  a  capacity  for  fo- 
cussing all  the  energies  of  the  soul  upon  one  point  to  the 
exclusion  of  sense  impressions  from  without.  It  is  very 
certain  that  men  who  excel  in  any  line  of  work  acquire 
habits  of  concentrated  and  continuous  thought  in  one 
direction.  Very  different  from  these  are  the  mental 
habits  of  the  boy  and  the  average  man.  A  writer  in 
Cornhill  Magazine  describes  their  intellectual  activity  as 
follows : 

"The  normal  mental  locomotion  of  even  well-educated 
men  and  women  (save  under  the  spur  of  exceptional 
stimulus)  is  neither  the  flight  of  an  eagle  in  the  sky, 
nor  the  trot  of  a  horse  upon  the  road,  but  may  better 
be  compared  to  the  lounge  of  a  truant  school-boy  in 
a  shady  lane,  now  dawdling  passively,  now  taking  a 
hop-skip-jump,  now  stopping  to  pick  blackberries,  and 
now  turning  to  right  or  left  to  catch  a  butterfly, 
climb  a  tree,  or  make  dick-duck-drake  on  a  pond ;  going 
nowhere  in  particular,  and  only  once  in  a  mile  or  so 
proceeding  six  steps  in  an  orderly  and  philosophical 
manner." 

The  thoughts  of  some  men  resemble  mosaic  work. 
Each  part  is  beautiful  in  itself,  but  has  no  inner  connec- 


KINDS   OF  THINKING.  263 

tion  -with  those  next  to  it.  Men  of  this  class  are  called 
loose  thinkers ;  it  is  always  difficult  to  retain  what  they 
say.  The  thinking  of  a  totally  opposite  class  of  men  re- 
sembles the  growth  of  an  organism.  They  start  Loose 
from  a  germinal  idea,  which,  like  seed  sown  tinkers. 
into  good  soil,  begins  to  grow,  throwing  out  parts  which 
have  inward  connection  and  which  together  constitute  an 
organic  unity.  In  a  machine  any  part  can  be  replaced 
by  another.  In  the  organism  no  such  substitution  is  pos- 
sible. For  each  organ  bears  a  life  relation  to  the  whole, 
and  if  it  is  wanting  the  unity  of  the  organism  is  destroyed. 
Organic  thinking  gives  the  hearer  the  feeling  that  the 
several  parts  and  inferences  of  a  discourse  are  organic 
evolved  from  his  inner  consciousness.  Having  taking- 
had  the  germ-idea  in  his  mind,  he  feels  as  if  he  had  held 
all  it  involves ;  the  speaker  supplied  the  conditions  of 
development  as  the  sun  supplies  warmth  for  vegetable 
growth.  The  effect  of  such  thinking  is  irresistible.  The 
branches  of  study  which  thus  grow  out  of  a  fundamental 
idea,  and  show  the  inner  relation  between  the  subjects 
not  as  a  mere  sequence,  but  as  a  living  organic  relation, 
have  an  educative  value  which  cannot  be  too  highly 
prized.  The  organic  thinker,  if  he  makes  himself  under- 
stood, has  the  audience  on  his  side  ;  and  his  cogency  can 
seldom  be  refuted  except  by  showing  either  that  his 
germinal  idea  is  wrong  or  that  his  conclusions  have  no 
connection  with  his  premises. 

Dr.  Harris  has  drawn  attention  to  three  stages  of 
thinking.     He  claims  that  in  the  first  stage  things  are 
regarded  as  the  essential  elements  of  all  being,     Harris  on 
that  in  the  second  the  mind  discovers  relations,     stages  of 
— truly  essential    relations, — and   that  in  the 
third  stage  the  mind  thinks  the   self- related.     "  Self- 
relation  is  the  category  of  the  reason,  just  as  relativity 
is  the  category  of  the  understanding,  or  non-relativity 


264  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

(atomism)  the  category  of  sense- perception."  Theoreti- 
cally this  distinction  is  important  as  giving  us  a  rational 
basis  for  the  knowledge  of  God  as  revealed  to  man. 
Practically,  every  child  thinks  the  idea  of  God.  Where 
the  study  of  science  or  philosophy  leads  to  atheism,  the 
wish  is  always  father  to  the  thought. 

Clifford  has  made  a  distinction  between  technical  and 
scientific  thinking.  The  former  enables  one  to  do  with 
skill  and  accuracy  what  has  been  done  hereto- 
fore.  The  latter  partakes  of  the  nature  of 
scientific  prophecy  or  prediction.  He  claims  that  sci- 
ng'  entific  as  well  as  merely  technical  thought  make 
use  of  experience  to  direct  human  action,  but  that  while 
technical  thought  or  skill  enables  a  man  to  deal  with  the 
same  circumstances  he  has  met  before,  scientific  thought 
enables  him  to  deal  with  circumstances  different  from  any 
he  has  met  before.  In  his  opinion,  scientific  thought  is 
human  progress  itself.  An  example  or  two  can  best 
be  given  in  his  own  language. 

"If  you  make  a  dot  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  then  hold 
a  piece  of  Iceland  spar  over  it,  you  will  see  not  one  dot, 
but  two.  A  mineralogist,  by  measuring  the  angles  of  a 
crystal,  can  tell  you  whether  or  not  it  possesses  this 
property  without  looking  through  it.  He  requires  no 
scientific  thought  to  do  that.  But  Sir  Eowan  Hamilton, 
the  late  Astronomer  Eoyal  of  Ireland,  knowing  these 
facts,  and  also  the  explanation  of  them  which  Fresnel 
had  given,  thought  about  the  subject,  and  predicted 
that  by  looking  through  certain  crystals  in  a  particular 
direction  we  should  see  not  two  dots,  but  a  continuous 
circle.  Mr.  Lloyd  made  the  experiment  and  saw  the 
circle,  a  result  which  had  never  been  even  suspected. 
This  has  always  been  considered  one  of  the  most  signal 
instances  of  scientific  thought  in  the  domain  of  physics. 
It  is  most  distinctly  an  application  of  experience  gained 


KINDS  OF  THINKING.  265 

under  certain  circumstances  to  entirely  different  circum- 
stances." * 

Clifford  compares  two  well-known  achievements  in  the 
domain  of  astronomy  which  help  to  set  the  distinction 
between  technical  and  scientific  thought  in  a  still  clearer 
light : 

"  Ancient  astronomers  observed  that  the  relative  mo- 
tions of  the  sun  and  moon  recurred  all  over  again  in 
the  same  order  every  nineteen  years.  They  were  thus 
enabled  to  predict  the  time  at  which  eclipses  would  take 
place.  A  calculator  at  one  of  our  great  observatories 
can  do  a  great  deal  more  than  this.  Like  them,  he  makes 
use  of  past  experience  to  predict  the  future;  but  he 
knows  of  a  great  number  of  other  cycles  besides  the  one 
of  nineteen  years,  and  takes  account  of  all  of  them ;  and 
he  can  tell  about  the  solar  eclipse  of  six  years  hence, 
exactly  when  it  will  be  visible,  and  how  much  of  the 
sun's  surface  will  be  covered  at  each  place,  and  to  a 
second  at  what  time  of  the  day  it  will  begin  and  finish 
there.  This  prediction  involves  technical  skill  of  the 
highest  order,  but  it  does  not  involve  scientific  thought, 
as  any  astronomer  will  tell  you.  By  such  calculations 
the  place  of  the  planet  Uranus  at  different  times  of  the 
year  had  been  predicted  and  set  down.  The  predictions 
were  not  fulfilled.  Then  arose  Adams,  and  from  the 
errors  in  the  prediction  he  calculated  the  place  of  an 
entirely  new  planet  that  had  never  yet  been  suspected ; 
and  you  all  know  how  the  new  planet  was  actually  found 
in  that  place.  Now  this  prediction  does  involve  sci- 
entific thought,  as  any  one  who  has  studied  it  will  tell 
you.  Here,  then,  are  two  cases  of  thought  about  the 
same  subject,  both  predicting  events  by  the  application 


*  Clifford's  "  Essays,"  page  8& 


266  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

of  previous  experience,  yet  we  say  one  is  technical  and 
the  other  scientific."  * 

The  foregoing  distinction  may  be  valuable  in  the  train- 
ing of  university  students  whose  career  is  to  be  that  of 
original  research  and  discovery,  but  it  has  very  little 
value  for  teachers  in  schools  of  lower  grade.  For  ordi- 
Bcienceas  nary  purposes,  science  is  the  knowledge  of 
knowledge  things  in  their  causes  and  relations.  If  the 
their  causes  teacher  begets  the  habit  of  asking  why,  and 
andreia-  makes  the  pupils  dissatisfied  with  simply 
)ns'  knowing  the  how  and  the  what,  he  has  gone  far 
towards  making  them  thinkers  in  the  scientific  sense  of 
the  word. 

How  shall  the  knowledge  of  things  in  their  causes  and 
relations  be  attained?  The  mind  first  thinks  things  as 
isolated  units  apart  from  and  without  reference  to  other 
things.  Under  the  impulse  to  know  it  resolves  the 
thing  into  its  elements  or  constituent  parts,  and 
then  puts  them  together  in  a  more  complete  idea 
of  each  thing  as  a  whole.  The  boy  whose  curiosity 
impels  him  to  take  apart  a  watch  or  clock  is  follow- 
ing the  bent  of  the  mind  to  proceed  analytically. 
If  he  does  not  try  to  put  the  pieces  together,  so 
that  the  reconstructed  whole  will  keep  time  as  before, 


*  Clifford's  "  Essays,"  page  87.  Thus  the  movements  of  Sirius  led 
astronomers  (Peters  and  Auwers)  to  infer  the  existence  of  a  satel- 
lite, which  was  subsequently  discovered  by  Alvan  Clark  &  Son 
through  the  eighteen-inch  glass  which  they  were  completing  for 
the  Chicago  Observatory.  Similarly,  Professor  Wright,  of  Oberlin, 
carefully  studied  the  Trenton  deposits  and  their  relations  to  the 
terrace  and  gravel  deposits  to  the  westward,  and  predicted  that 
similar  paleolithic  implements  would  be  found  in  Ohio.  Two  years 
afterwards  Dr.  Mertz  found,  eight  feet  below  the  surface,  a  true 
paleolith  of  black  flint  at  Madisonville,  in  the  Little  Miami  Valley. 
Other  instances  of  scientific  prediction  will  occur  to  the  reader. 


KINDS  OF  THINKING.  267 

he  needs  stimulus  in  the  direction  of  synthetic  thinking. 
Soon  his  interest  in  time-pieces  leads  him  to  detect  simi- 
larities between  American  watches  and  those  made  in 
Switzerland,  and  he  learns  to  classify  time-pieces,  to  see 
a  multitude  of  details  and  peculiarities  at  a  glance,  one 
characteristic  or  peculiarity  bringing  to  his  mind  the 
distinctive  parts  and  construction  of  every  watch  in  a 
given  class.  From  the  way  in  which  a  given  watch  keeps 
time,  he  draws  inferences  in  regard  to  the  entire  class. 
This  is  inductive  thinking.  From  the  conclusions  he  has 
framed,  he  makes  up  his  mind  as  to  the  new  watch  which 
the  jeweller  offers  him  for  sale.  He  is  now  thinking 
deductively. 

From  thinking  things  as  units,  the  mind  passes  to 
thinking  the  relations  of  things.  The  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends  in  play,  in  ministering  to  bodily  wants, 
occupies  the  mind  in  very  early  stages  of  thinking.  The 
gifts  of  the  kindergarten  appeal  to  this  tendency  in  the 
mind,  and  help  to  develop  it  into  habit  and  faculty.  De- 
sign and  its  execution,  means  and  end,  the  tool  and  its  use, 
the  raw  material  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  to  be 
used,  thought-material  and  the  essay  in  which  it  is  to  be 
formulated, — these  are  so  many  ways  of  thinking  things 
or  ideas  in  their  relations.  Not  only  may  a  relation  be- 
come a  distinct  object  of  thought,  but  relations  between 
relations,  classes  of  relations, — for  instance,  in  simple 
and  compound  proportion, — can  thus  be  made  to  stand 
apart  before  the  mind  as  distinct  objects  of  thought.  The 
most  important  of  all  these  relations  is  that  of  cause  and 
effect.  How  things  come  to  be,  their  origin  and  develop- 
ment, the  forces  that  make  them  what  they  are,  are  the 
questions  of  profound  and  abiding  interest  to  the  scien- 
tific mind.  Laws  are  often  spoken  of  as  if  they  were 
causes.  A  law  is  a  generalized  statement  of  an  invaria- 
ble sequence  of  things  or  motions  of  things.  "We  some- 


268          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

times  personify  these  sequences,  and  speak  of  them  as 

if  they  were  forces  in  nature.     The  laws  are  personified, 

as  if  they  were  conscious  beings  demanding 

Distinction       ,,.  *•*•.•  •  i  L   t-        j- 

between     obedience,  and  inflicting  punishment  for  dis- 


obedience.  The  consciousness  of  the  personi- 
ses'  fication  is  lost,  and  then  along  with  spelling 
nature  with  a  capital  letter,  we  fall  into  the  mistake  of 
making  laws  stand  for  the  Maker  and  Creator  of  all 
things.  Furthermore,  it  is  very  important  to  distinguish 
the  ground  of  knowledge  from  causes  that  are  operative 
in  the  world  outside  of  mind.  The  rain  of  last  night 
caused  the  streets  to  be  muddy  ;  but  the  condition  of  the 
streets,  an  effect  of  rainfall,  may  be  the  ground  of  our 
knowledge  that  it  must  have  rained  last  night.  The  fact 
that  the  earth  is  flattened  at  the  poles,  or,  in  other 
words,  that  its  curvature  is  less  at  the  poles  than  at  the 
equator,  explains  the  fact  that  degrees  of  latitude  get 
longer  as  we  approach  the  poles.  The  former  is  the 
cause,  the  latter  is  an  effect.  But  the  mind  drew  the 
former  as  an  inference  from  the  determination  of  degrees 
of  latitude  by  actual  measurement.  The  effect  became 
the  ground  of  knowledge.  Frequently  the  cause  is 
known  or  inferred  from  its  effect.  That  which  is  causal 
in  the  world  of  mind  is  effect  in  the  world  outside  of 
mind  ;  and  that  which  is  effect  in  nature  becomes  the 
ground  of  knowledge  in  the  processes  of  thought.  From 
this  point  as  vantage-ground,  we  spy  the  land  in  which 
thinking  becomes  knowing. 


XVII 

THINKING   AND   KNOWING 


269 


When  a  man's  knowledge  is  not  in  order,  the  more  of  it  he  has 
the  greater  will  be  his  confusion  of  thought.  "When  the  facts  are 
not  organized  into  faculty,  the  greater  the  mass  of  them  tne  more 
will  the  mind  stagger  along  under  its  burden,  hampered  instead  of 
helped  by  its  acquisitions. 

H.  SPENCER. 

That  knowledge  cannot  be  gained  without  more  or  less  of  correct 
and  prolonged  thinking  is  a  practical  maxim  which  no  one  would 
be  found  to  dispute.  But  that  there  is  much  knowledge  which  does 
not  come  by  mere  thinking  is  a  maxim  scarcely  more  to  be  held  in 
doubt.  Thinking  is,  then,  universally  recognized  as  an  important 
and  even  necessary  part  of  knowing ;  but  it  is  not  the  whole  of 
knowing.  Or,  in  other  words,  one  must  make  use  of  one's  facul- 
ties of  thought  as  an  indispensable  means  to  cognition  ;  but  there 
are  other  means  which  must  also  be  employed,  since  it  is  not  by 
thought  alone  that  the  human  mind  attains  cognition. 

LADD'S  "PHILOSOPHY  op  KNOWLEDGE,"  page  130. 


270 


XVII 
THINKING  AND   KNOWING 

ONE  morning  a  teacher  was  awakened  by  a  noise,  the 
like  of  which  he  had  never  heard  and  hopes  never  to 
hear  again.  It  was  unlike  anything  in  his  former  ex- 
perience. Soon  he  began  to  distinguish  the  hissing  of 
steam  and  the  moaning  of  men,  but  the  cause  was  still  a 
mystery.  Later,  he  learned  that  the  blast  furnace  in  the 
neighborhood  had  exploded,  and  that  several  men  were 
killed  and  others  had  been  seriously  injured  by  the  ex- 
plosion. 

The  cause  of  the  noise  could  not  be  inferred,  because 
there  was  nothing  in  his  former  experience  with  which  it 
could  be  compared.  The  escaping  steam  and  r 

the  voices  of  the  suffering  workmen  were  recog-      tion  of 
nized  because  they  could  be  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  before. 
In  order  that  any  one  may  derive  definite  knowledge 
from  sense-impressions,  there  must  be  something  in  past 
experience  to  give  meaning  to  the  new  experience. 

Observation  that  issues  in  knowing  is  coupled  with  a 
process  of  thought  in  which  the  new  perception  is  Jinked 
to  the  ideas  which  the  mind  brings  to  the  perception. 
In  other  words,  observation  always  involves  the  element 
of  thinking  ;  without  thinking,  sense-impressions  cannot 
give  us  knowledge. 

Knowing  is  impossible  without  thinking,  and  yet  not 
all  thinking  gives  rise  to  knowing.  What  is  the  relation 
between  the  two  I 

271 


272  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

Knowledge  has  been  denned  as  firm  belief  in  what  is 
true  on  sufficient  ground.     The  explanation  of  this  defi- 
whatis     nition  which  Locke  gives  is  well  known  to 
tnowi-      every  student  of  philosophy.     "If  any  one  is 
edge?      jn  doubt  respecting  one  of  Euclid's  demonstra- 
tions, he  cannot  be  said  to  know  the  proposition  proved 
by  it ;  if  again  he  is  fully  convinced  of  anything  that  is 
not  true,  he  is  mistaken  in  supposing  himself  to  know 
it;  lastly,  if  two  persons  are  each  fully  confident,  one 
that  the  moon  is  inhabited,  and  the  other  that  it  is  not 
(though  one  of  these  opinions  must  be  true),  neither  of 
them  could  properly  bo  said  to  know  the  truth,  since  he 
cannot  have  sufficient  proof  of  it."  * 

The  foregoing  definition  consists  of  three  parts, — 1, 
firm  belief ;  2,  in  what  is  true ;  3,  on  sufficient  ground. 
In  common  parlance,    belief  is  distinguished 
from  knowledge,  the  latter  implying  a  higher 
degree  of  assurance  than  the  former.     In  some  treatises 
on  psychology  belief  denotes  all  forms  of  assent,  including 
the  highest  possible  certainty  and  conviction.     The  ex- 
pression firm  belief  excludes  the  element  of  doubt  from 
knowledge. 

Truth,  according  to  the  etymology  of  the  word,  signi- 
fies that  which  the  mind  trows  or  believes  to  be  fact  or 
reality.  It  has  its  source  in  God,  whilst  knowl- 
edge proceeds  from  man.  To  be  true,  a  propo- 
sition must  be  in  exact  accordance  with  what  is  or  has 
been  or  shall  be.  Truth  exists  apart  from  the  cognitions 
of  the  human  mind.  It  would  continue  to  exist  if  the 
mind  of  man  were  blotted  out  of  existence,  and  there 
was  truth  long  before  the  intelligence  of  man  was  called 
into  being.  The  aim  of  thinking  is  to  find  out  and  lay 
hold  of  the  truth.  Thinking  in  which  truth  and  error 

*  "  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,"  Book  IV.,  Chapter  I. 


THINKING   AND  KNOWING.  273 

are  mixed  may  have  value  as  partial  knowledge  and  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  fuller  knowledge.  Knowledge  becomes 
full  and  complete  only  in  so  far  as  it  contains  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 

Full  knowledge  implies  a  basis  upon  which  it  may  rest. 
There  may  be  sufficient  ground  for  the  firm  belief  which 
constitutes  the  essence  of  knowledge  even  when  Theground 
the  truth  cognized  is  incapable  of  full  and  com-  of  knowi- 
plete  demonstration. 

It  is  natural  for  a  child  to  believe.  The  statements  of 
others  are  accepted  as  true  without  question,  so  long  as 
the  child  has  not  been  deceived  by  others.  Hence  many 
teachers  have  assumed  that  their  chief  function  is  to  ask 
the  reason  why,  so  that  belief  in  what  is  true  The  reason 
may  be  based  upon  sufficient  ground,  and  that  Wh7- 
nothing  shall  be  accepted  as  true  until  it  is  proved. 
This  was  one  of  the  erroneous  views  under  which  Pesta- 
lozzi  labored.  He  justified  the  undue  attention  paid  to 
mathematics  in  his  school  on  the  ground  that  he  wished 
his  pupils  to  believe  nothing  which  cannot  be  demon- 
strated as  clearly  as  two  and  two  make  four.  Where- 
upon Pere  Girard  replied,  "In  that  case,  if  I  had  thirty 
sons  I  would  not  intrust  one  of  them  to  you ;  for  it  would 
be  impossible  for  you  to  demonstrate  to  him,  as  you  can 
that  two  and  two  make  four,  that  I  am  his  father  and  that 
I  have  a  right  to  his  obedience."  * 

The  progress  of  a  pupil  may  be  hindered  by  too  much 
emphasis  upon  the  ground  of  knowledge.  The  human 
mind  cannot  make  an  exhaustive  study  of  very  Exhaustive 
many  things.  Exhaustion  is  a  term  applied  by  study- 
logicians  to  a  method  of  proof  in  which  "all  the  argu- 
ments tending  to  an  opposite  conclusion  are  brought  for- 

*  Compayre's  "  History  of  Pedagogy,"  page  437,  American  trans- 
lation. 

18 


274          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ward,  discussed,  and  proved  untenable  or  absurd,  thus 
leaving  the  original  proposition  established  by  the  exclu- 
sion of  every  alternate."  Speaking  positively,  we  may 
say  that  exhaustive  study  of  a  subject  explores  it  in  all 
its  bearings  and  relations  as  well  as  in  its  nature  and 
essence.  In  every  subject  the  known  is  bounded  by  the 
unknown  ;  new  methods  of  preparation  and  investigation 
constantly  reveal  novelties  in  whole  classes  of  objects 
which  it  was  supposed  had  been  studied  exhaustively. 
The  specialist  seeks  to  know  all  that  has  been  brought  to 
light  in  his  field  of  research,  and  to  push  out  the  limits 
of  knowledge  beyond  the  goal  reached  by  his  predeces- 
sors. The  thoroughness  of  the  specialist  is  not  required 
in  elementary  instruction.  The  writer  knows  of  a  teacher 
who  for  an  entire  term  kept  a  class  of  boys  at  work  upon 
highest  common  factor  and  least  common  multiple  on  the 
plea  that  they  did  not  thoroughly  understand  these  sub- 
jects. No  better  plan  of  disgusting  boys  with  arithmetic 
and  algebra  could  have  been  devised.  Thorough  knowl- 
edge of  these  two  subjects  involves  reasoning  and  demon- 
strations more  difficult  to  grasp  than  half  the  theorems 
in  Euclid.  Instead  of  aiming  at  exhaustive  treatment, 
the  true  teacher  is  satisfied  with  knowledge  adequate  for 
the  subsequent  work  of  the  course.  If  the  pupil  has 
reached  the  stage  where  he  can  appreciate  the  reason 
why,  it  may  be  (though  it  is  not  always)  wise  to  raise 
this  question,  and  to  insist  on  a  comprehension  of  the 
proof.  Very  often  the  mind  has  enough  to  do  in  trying 
Theques-  to  see  how ;  the  question  why  then  interferes 
won  how.  wjth  the  mastery  of  the  mechanical  operations. 
Let  any  adult  take  up  a  system  of  arithmetic  with  which 
he  is  unfamiliar,  say  the  arithmetic  based  on  counting 
by  fives,  or  by  twelves,  or  by  thirties  (each  of  the  last 
two,  mathematically  speaking,  better  than  the  arithmetic 
based  on  tens),  he  will  soon  find  it  is  work  enough  at 


THINKING  AND  KNOWING.  275 

first  for  his  intellect  to  perform  the  operations  of  adding, 
subtracting,  multiplying,  and  dividing  without  reference 
to  the  philosophic  explanations  which  exhaustive  study 
would  require  at  every  step  in  the  operations. 

Descartes  applied  several  of  the  technical  terms  of 
optics  to  the  science  of  mind,  and  in  this  he  has  been 
followed  by  Locke,  Leibnitz,  and  others.  An  object  seen 
at  a  great  distance  or  in  insufficient  light  looks  obscure  j 
as  the  eye  approaches,  or  as  the  dawn  increases,  the 
object,  as  a  whole,  becomes  clear  enough  to  be  distin- 
guished from  other  objects,  although  its  constituent 
parts  are  still  confused.  Increasing  light  or  a  nearer 
approach  finally  enables  us  to  discern  the  parts,  and  the 
vision  of  the  object  grows  distinct.  Clear  vision  occurs 
where  the  object,  as  a  whole,  can  be  recognized  ;  distinct 
vision  occurs  when  the  parts  of  the  object  seen  can  be 
recognized.  In  like  manner  ideas  are  said  to  be  clear  as 
distinguished  from  obscure,  when  they  are  dis-  when 
cerned  in  outline  ;  they  are  distinct  (opposed  to  knowledge 
indistinct  or  confused)  when  they  are  discerned  When  dis- 
in  their  elements  or  constituent  parts.  Distinct  tinct. 
mental  vision  requires  analytic  and  synthetic  thinking. 

Of  many  objects  the  mind  needs  only  clear  knowledge 
for  ordinary  purposes.  One  may  distinguish  two  brothers 
by  the  total  impression  of  each  which  he  carries  in  his 
mind,  and  yet  be  totally  unable  to  tell  any  specific  marks 
by  which  he  knows  the  one  from  the  other.  The  painter, 
on  the  other  hand,  cannot  be  satisfied  with  this  total  im- 
pression ;  he  studies  the  individual  features  until  he  has 
a  distinct  impression  of  their  likenesses  and  differences. 

Of  the  map  of  one's  own  country  it  pays  to  know  the 
States  and  Territorial  divisions.  Of  one's  State,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  counties,  and  of  one's  county,  a  knowledge  of 
the  townships  may  be  helpful.  For  specific  vocations 
more  minute  knowledge  may  be  desirable.  Each  indi- 


276  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

vidual  mind  can  well  afford  to  stop  with  a  measure  of 
geographical  knowledge  that  is  adequate  for  the  duties 
of  his  vocation  and  the  purposes  of  his  reading  of  books 
and  newspapers. 

Very  little  of  our  knowledge  of  geography  is  based 
upon  experience  ;  most  of  it  rests  upon  testimony.  The 
eye  at  a  glance  may  take  in  the  outlines  of  an  island  of 
the  Susquehanna  river.  The  fact  that  Great  Britain  is 
an  island  rests  upon  the  testimony  of  maps ;  our  belief  is 
based  upon  what  we  have  always  heard  and  read,  and  is 
further  strengthened  by  the  absence  of  testimony  to  the 
contrary.  If  the  fact  had  ever  been  questioned,  the  mind 
might  hold  its  judgment  in  suspense  until  sufficient 
ground  was  found  to  warrant  a  conclusion. 

When  the  knowledge  which  a  pupil  has  is  to  be  deep- 
ened or  made  more  distinct  a  series  of  well-chosen  ques- 
vaiueof  tions  may  beget  the  required  thinking.  For 
questions.  instance,  let  us  take  the  case  of  a  pupil  who  has 
reached  the  stage  where  his  knowledge  of  the  properties 
of  the  parts  of  speech  should  be  made  more  complete. 
Let  the  teacher  ask  for  the  difference  between  a  pencil 
and  a  part  of  speech,  between  a  noun  and  a  name,  be- 
tween gender  and  sex,  between  number  in  grammar  and 
number  in  arithmetic,  between  person  in  grammar  and  a 
person  like  the  President  of  the  United  States,  between 
case  in  grammar  and  a  case  in  division  of  fractions,  be- 
tween tense  and  time,  between  mode  and  manner,  between 
action  and  a  verb,  between  the  object  of  an  action  and  the 
object  of  a  verb.  Comparison  will  soon  show  the  inaccu- 
racy of  the  statement  that  the  direct  object  of  an  action 
is  in  the  accusative  case ;  and  the  learner  will  see  that 
case  is  a  property  of  nouns,  not  of  objects,  and  cannot  be 
predicated  of  the  object  of  an  action,  but  of  the  word 
which  denotes  the  object  of  the  action,  which  word  may 
be  either  in  the  nominative  or  the  accusative  case  as  the 


THINKING  AND  KNOWING.  277 

verb  is  either  in  the  passive  or  active  voice.  Comparison 
will  lead  the  pupil  to  see  clearly  that  gender  is  a  prop- 
erty of  nouns,  whereas  sex  or  the  absence  of  sex  is  predi- 
cated of  that  for  which  nouns  stand.  Comparison  will 
serve  to  bring  out  the  distinction  between  number  in 
grammar  as  a  property  of  nouns  indicating  one  or  more 
than  one,  and  numbers  in  arithmetic,  of  which  there  are 
as  many  as  there  are  unite  or  collections  of  units  in  the 
universe.  Thinking  by  comparison  will  lead  to  the  de- 
tection of  similarities  and  differences,  to  discrimination, 
combination,  and  generalization,  and  through  these  to 
more  distinct  and  more  adequate  knowledge. 

Questions  which  draw  attention  to  likenesses  and  differ- 
ences, to  causal  relations  and  logical  sequences,  stimulate 
analysis  and  comparison  ;  the  resulting  judgments  clarify 
the  stream  of  thought  and  push  the  boundary  of  knowl- 
edge into  the  regions  of  the  hitherto  unknown. 

The  greatest  minds  when  working  under  the  influence 
of  a  false  theory  fail  to  arrive  at  truth.    Socrates  rejected 
the  view  of  Anaxagoras  that  the  sun  is  a  fire,      Theory, 
because  we  can  look  at  a  fire,  but  not  at  the     true  and 
sun,  because  plants  grow  by  sunshine  and  are      false' 
killed  by  fire,  and  because  a  stone  heated  in  fire  is  not 
luminous,  but  soon  cools,  whereas  the  sun  always  remains 
equally  hot  and  luminous.     Newton  did  more  than  all 
other  thinkers  combined  to  make  astronomy  a  science ;  his 
discoveries  in  physics  and  mathematics  rank  him  among 
the  greatest  investigators  the  world  has  thus  far  known  ; 
yet  he  spent  many  nights  trying  to  find  the  method  by 
which  the  baser  metals  could  be  transmuted  into  silver 
and  gold  ;  his  researches  as  an  alchemist  led  to  nothing, 
because  he  was  working  under  the  spell  of  a  false  theory.* 

*  "There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Newton  was  an  alchemist,  and 
that  he  often  labored  night  and  day  at  alchemical  experiments. 
But  in  trying  to  discover  the  secret  by  which  gross  metals  might  be 


278  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

Faraday  acknowledged  that  he  was  often  compelled  to 

give  up  his  preconceived  notions,  and  in  some  cases  his 

failures  are  almost  as  instructive  as  his  discov- 

Scientists. 

eries.  It  was  characteristic  of  him  to  hold  to 
his  theories  until  he  proved  them  either  true  or  false, 
and  he  was  ever  ready  to  reject  any  hypothesis  as  soon  as 
he  found  it  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  nature.  Newton 
was  willing  to  suspend  judgment  for  years  upon  his 
theory  of  gravitation,  until  more  accurate  measurements 
of  the  earth's  size  and  the  moon's  distance  showed  his 
theory  and  calculations  to  be  right.  Socrates  advised 
his  folio weis  to  quit  the  study  of  astronomy,  probably 
because  he  felt  that  in  his  time  the  data  were  not 
sufficient  to  warrant  definite  conclusions.  Hosts  of  in- 
stances can  be  cited  showing  that  the  thinking  of  the 
strongest  intellects  does  not  issue  in  knowing  when  it  is 
based  upon  or  biassed  by  a  wrong  working  hypothesis. 
And  yet  it  must  be  confessed  that  wrong  hypotheses  may 
lead  to  valuable  negative  results,  as  in  the  case  of  Kep- 
ler's investigations,  each  exploded  theory  making  room 
for  the  construction  of  a  theory  more  in  accordance  with 
the  facts.  The  superiority  of  men  of  genius  lies  in  their 
love  of  truth  and  fidelity  to  fact ;  in  the  facility  with 
which  they  construct  theories  to  account  for  observed 
phenomena ;  in  the  patience  with  which  they  test  theory 
by  fact,  and  in  the  readiness  with  which  they  reject 

rendered  noble  his  lofty  powers  of  deductive  investigation  were 
wholly  useless.  Deprived  of  all  guiding  clues,  his  experiments 
were  like  those  of  all  the  alchemists,  purely  haphazard  and  tenta- 
tive. While  his  hypothetical  and  deductive  investigations  have 
given  us  a  true  system  of  the  universe,  and  opened  the  way  for 
almost  all  the  great  branches  of  natural  philosophy,  the  whole 
results  of  his  tentative  experiments  are  comprehended  in  a  few 
happy  guesses,  given  in  his  celebrated  '  Queries.' " — Jevons's 
"Principles  of  Science,"  pages  505,  506. 


THINKING  AND  KNOWING.  279 

every  hypothesis  as  soon  as  it  is  found  to  be  in  irrecon- 
cilable conflict  with  well-established  facts.  The  average 
life  of  a  theory  in  science  is  said  to  be  only  ten  years. 
The  average  would  be  lower  still  if  all  rejected  theories 
had  been  put  into  books.  The  men  possessed  of  a  truly 
scientific  spirit  differ  from  ordinary  men  not  only  in  the 
painstaking  accuracy  of  their  observations  and  in  the 
surprising  fertility  with  which  they  frame  theories,  but 
also  in  the  habit  of  verifying  every  hypothesis  until  there 
is  sufficient  ground  to  establish  its  truth  and  to  receive  it 
as  an  addition  to  the  sum  total  of  human  knowledge. 

The  common  people  are  quite  as  ready  to  frame  theo- 
ries as  the  scientists  and  philosophers.  It  would  be  well 
if  they  were  equally  patient  in  testing  their  The 
theories  and  in  verifying  their  suppositions,  common 
The  human  mind  cannot  help  generalizing.  P60?16- 
The  moment  a  child  uses  a  common  noun  it  begins  to 
classify.  Its  tendency  to  pull  things  to  pieces  and  to  put 
them  together  again  are  exhibitions  of  the  mind's  ten- 
dency to  treat  everything  by  analysis  and  synthesis. 
Purpose  and  design,  cause  and  effect  early  show  them- 
selves in  the  thinking  of  children.  The  teacher  need 
but  guide  these  activities  and  give  the  mind  the  proper 
material  to  work  upon  ;  the  result  cannot  be  doubtful  if 
the  mind  which  plays  upon  the  learner's  mind  has  been 
trained  to  operate  according  to  the  laws  of  thought  and  the 
principles  which  must  guide  in  the  discovery  of  the  truth. 

Doubt  is  sometimes  the  prerequisite  of  knowledge.  To 
raise  a  doubt  in  the  mind  of  a  growing  youth  may  cause 
him  to  think.  It  may  cause  him  to  explore  the 
grounds  of  his  knowledge,  to  ascertain  the  ra- 
tional basis  upon  which  his  beliefs  rest,  and  to  reject  such 
as  were  of  the  nature  of  prejudice  or  of  tradition  with  no 
sufficient  warrant  for  acceptance.  Eational  belief  is  far 
superior  to  blind  faith. 


280  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

When  the  doubt  is  raised  in  regard  to  the  verities  of 
one's  religious  faith  there  is  grave  danger  of  landing  in 
scepticism  or  infidelity.  What  is  truth  ?  may  be  asked 
in  the  spirit  of  Pilate,  who  turned  away  from  the  Great 
Teacher  with  a  despairing  sneer  and  without  waiting  for 
a  reply.  Pilate  had  trifled  with  his  own  conscience  until 
he  could  no  longer  discern  truth  and  righteousness. 
Some  men  need  better  hearts  in  order  that  they  may 
think  and  know  the  highest  truth.  The  hope  can  be  held 
out  that  whenever  the  truth  is  earnestly  sought  by  the 
human  heart  the  soul  will  ultimately  be  guided  into  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth.  To  disturb  the  grounds  upon 
which  rest  the  principles  of  morality  and  religion  is  a 
dangerous  experiment,  especially  in  the  case  of  immature 
minds.  The  flood  of  doubt  may  sweep  away  the  solid 
foundations  of  a  pupil's  moral  nature  and  leave  him  a 
wreck  upon  the  quicksands  of  vice  or  upon  the  rock  of 
scepticism. 

It  is  the  nature  of  the  child  to  believe,  to  cherish  faith 
in  what  others  tell  him  and  in  what  the  world  presents 
to  his  vision.  To  disturb  the  fervor  and  strength  of  this 
trust  before  the  understanding  is  ripe  for  fuller  knowl- 
edge may  result  in  life-long  injury.  The  child's  faith  in 
fairyland,  in  Santa-Glaus,  should,  of  course,  be  kept  from 
becoming  a  source  of  terror.  The  stories  of  ghosts, 
spooks,  and  hobgoblins  sometimes  employed  in  the  nursery 
to  influence  conduct  may  cause  fears,  terrors,  and  horrors 
from  which  it  is  well  to  emancipate  the  child  as  speedily 
as  possible  through  the  light  of  clearer  knowledge. 

Better  than  doubt  as  a  stimulus  to  thought  is  the  de- 
sire to  know.  St.  Augustine  was  on  fire  to  know.  The 
The  desire  teacher  who  kindles  and  keeps  burning  this 
to  know.  fire  in  the  soul  of  the  pupil  has  supplied  the 
most  powerful  incentive  to  thought ;  for  without  thinking 
knowledge  is  impossible  of  attainment. 


THINKING  AND  KNOWING.  281 

As  we  may  start  our  wood  flaming  by  coals  hot  from 
another's  fire,  so  we  may  kindle  a  burning  desire  for 
knowledge  by  bringing  the  mind  in  contact  with  minds 
that  are  all  aglow  with  the  desire  to  know.  A  burning 
fire  may  soon  exhaust  its  fuel  if  left  to  itself.  The  teacher 
supplies  the  fuel,  fans  the  flame,  directs  its  activity  for 
well-defined  purposes.  Here  the  analogy  breaks.  In- 
stead of  smoke  and  ashes  we  want  living  products  as  the 
result  of  knowing.  As  thinking  leads  to  knowing,  so 
knowing  should  give  rise  to  further  thinking.  Nowhere 
is  the  teacher's  function  of  guiding  more  indispensably 
necessary  than  in  the  interplay  of  these  two  activities. 
While  the  learner  is  engrossed  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge, the  teacher  is  watching  the  process  and  the  results. 
He  is  not  satisfied  unless  the  activity  of  thinking  and 
knowing  ends  in  full  cognition.  It  has  been  FuU  cogai- 
well  said  that  a  dog  knows  his  master,  but  ti<>n- 
does  not  cognize  him ;  that  to  cognize  means  to  refer  a 
perception  to  an  object  by  means  of  a  conception.  The 
objects  of  thought  must  be  sorted  and  arranged  in  groups  ; 
the  particular  notion  must  take  its  place  in  the  general 
concept ;  the  materials  upon  which  the  mind  acts  must 
be  assimilated  and  organized  into  a  unity,  showing  how 
each  has  its  origin  and  how  it  stands  in  living  relation  to 
every  other  part  of  the  organic  whole  ;  otherwise  think- 
ing cannot  lead  to  complete  cognition. 

The  incident  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  shows 
that  some  preparation  is  necessary  to  interpret  sense- 
impressions  and  organize  the  materials  of  thought  for 
the  purpose  of  cognition.     The  degree  of  preparation 
determines  how  far  the  instruction  at  a  given    The  Umlt 
time  shall  aim  to  go.     To  get  a  clearer  idea  of  of  instruc- 
the  thing  to  be  known  may  exhaust  the  learner's 
strength.     If  so,  the  presentation  should  stop   at  that 
point.     But  as  soon  as  his  power  and  interest  are  equal 


282          THINKING   AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

to  the  task  he  should  be  led  to  analyze  the  object  of 
thought  so  as  to  cognize  the  constituent  elements,  the 
essential  attributes,  a  process  whereby  he  will  arrive  at 
distinct  knowledge.  It  may  be  advisable  before  dropping 
the  inquiry  to  institute  comparisons  between  objects  of 
the  same  class,  for  the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to 
differences  and  likenesses  and  evolving  general  concepts 
or  universal  propositions.  For  many  thinkers  these  are 
the  goal  of  thinking.  If  they  can  resolve  the  universe 
to  a  few  simple  generalizations,  their  minds  are  satisfied. 
Nothing  more  barren  can  well  be  imagined  or  conceived. 
Appiica-  Cognition  is  not  complete  until  the  knowledge 
tionof  has  been  or  can  be  applied.  At  times  there 
knowledge.  may  j^  a  division  of  labor  and  glory  in  the 
discovery  and  application  of  truth.  The  discoveries  of 
Professor  Henry  which  made  the  electric  telegraph  pos- 
sible involved  thinking  quite  as  valuable  as  the  inven- 
tion of  Professor  Morse.  The  achievement  of  Cyrus  "W. 
Field  in  laying  the  Atlantic  cable  involved  thinking 
quite  as  important  as  the  researches  and  experiments  of 
Lord  Kelvin  which  made  the  cable  successful.  Interest- 
ing examples  of  such  division  of  labor  in  thinking  cannot 
justify  neglect  of  the  applications  after  a  general  truth 
has  been  evolved  and  stated. 

The  instruction  may  sometimes  begin  with  a  statement 
of  applications,  in  order  to  prepare  the  mind  for  the 
thinking  that  issues  in  knowing.  The  applications  of 
color  in  the  railway  service,  in  navigation,  and  in  the 
arts  will  create  an  interest  in  the  study  of  color  without 
which  the  presentation  of  the  fundamental  ideas  may 
be  in  vain.  Several  lecturers  have  admitted  that  they 
failed,  in  the  presentation  of  color  lessons,  to  hold  the 
attention  of  their  pupil-teachers  until  they  excited  an 
interest  in  color  by  indicating  important  applications. 
This  statement  of  applications  by  way  of  preparation 


THINKING  AND   KNOWING.  283 

must,  however,  not  be  confounded  with  the  applications 
which  should  follow  the  framing  of  general  propositions 
and  the  cognition  of  general  truths. 

The  hypotheses  of  the  scientist  correspond  to  the  gen- 
eral truths  and  principles  which  instruction  always  aims 
to  reach.  In  all  except  the  most  advanced  investigations, 
the  pupil  should  work  under  the  guidance  of  principles 
that  have  risen  above  the  hypothetical  stage.  He  should 
think  under  the  inspiration  of  well-established  truths. 
He  should  master  the  known  in  his  chosen  field  before 
he  seeks  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge 
by  invasions  into  the  realm  of  the  unknown.  Sad  is  the 
spectacle  of  a  talented  mind  wasting  its  strength  in  fruit- 
less efforts  to  rediscover  what  is  already  well  established. 

The  formulation  of  truths  in  mathematical  studies  is 
sometimes  carried  to  extremes.  The  pupil  may  at  times 
be  allowed  to  work  under  the  guidance  of  prin-  The  formu. 
ciples  which  he  knows  by  implication,  and  lationof 
which  he  has  never  had  occasion  to  formulate 
in  explicit  statements.  The  formulation  of  the  principles 
of  algebra  can  be  carried  into  the  statement  of  hundreds 
of  general  propositions.  If  the  pupil  is  asked  to  fix  all 
these  in  the  crystallized  or  specific  form  given  in  the 
text-book,  it  may  result  in  a  prodigious  waste  of  time. 
Furthermore,  the  effort  to  follow  invariably  any  formal 
steps  in  the  order  of  instruction  is  apt  to  make  the  in- 
struction unduly  formal  and  lifeless.  No  thinker  can 
afford  to  think  in  the  set  forms  of  the  syllogism  while 
evolving  a  train  of  thought.  Conscious  conformity  to  these 
hinders  progress  in  the  spontaneous  evolution  of  germi- 
nal ideas.  In  like  manner,  although  the  student  of  peda- 
gogy may  find  a  guide  in  the  rules  and  principles  of  his 
science  while  preparing  the  subject-matter  of  a  lesson, 
yet,  in  giving  the  instruction,  the  truth  must  be  the 
object  of  chief  regard,  the  centre  of  attention  in  con- 


284          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK, 

sciousness.  Constant  thought  of  prescribed  steps  makes 
the  teaching  stiff  and  formal,  and  dissipates  the  joyous 
interest  which  accompanies  free  and  spontaneous  think- 
ing. Formal  rules  are  very  often  like  hobbles  on  the 
feet  of  the  horse.  They  impede  his  speed,  rob  him  of 
half  his  power  and  energy,  and  spoil  his  enjoyment 
of  the  open  field.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  the  young 
teacher  will  perhaps  not  be  harmed  by  the  advice  that  in 
his  teaching  he  should  ever  seek  to  lead  the  learner  to 
clear  and  distinct  perception  of  likenesses  and  differences 
in  the  subject-matter  of  each  and  every  lesson.  The 
newer  methods  of  teaching  a  beginner  to  read,  wisely 
draw  attention  to  the  points  of  similarity  and  difference 
in  the  shapes  and  sounds  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 
They  even  go  to  the  extreme  of  comparing  sounds  with 
the  noises  of  animals,  with  which  the  child  in  the  larger 
cities  is  totally  unfamiliar.  This  error  is  not  half  so  bad 
as  the  opposite  extreme.  Very  much  of  the  bad  teach- 
ing by  which  the  schools  are  afflicted  arises  from  the 
assumption  that  the  learner  sees  the  points  of  agreement 
and  difference  which  are  so  very  obvious  to  the  mature 
mind  of  the  teacher.  The  consequence  is  mental  confu- 
sion and  loss  of  the  joy  of  definite  thinking.  The  detec- 
tion of  likeness  in  objects  having  many  points  of 
diversity  gives  the  mind  an  agreeable  surprise.  This 
emotion  is  an  element  in  the  pleasure  afforded  by  the 
various  forms  of  wit,  metaphor,  and  allegory.  Professor 
similarity  Bain  nas  shown  how  greatly  progress  in  science 
m  and  art  is  indebted  to  the  discovery  of  simi- 

diversity.     ^^  jn   ^  ^^  Qf  ^^  diversity-  *      Much 

of  the  child's  progress  in  knowledge  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  same  principle.  Children  notice  points  of  simi- 
larity that  often  escape  older  persons.  On  seeing  the 

*  "The  Senses  and  the  Intellect,"  pages  488-624. 


THINKING  AND  KNOWING.  285 

picture  of  a  tiger,  they  call  it  a  cat.  A  mother  who 
showed  her  little  daughter,  just  beginning  to  talk,  the 
caricature  of  a  man  prominent  in  the  public  eye,  was 
surprised  to  hear  the  child  exclaim,  "Papa."  It  was 
the  child's  word  for  man,  as  she  afterwards  discovered. 
"Where  she  saw  contrast,  the  child  only  noticed  the  points 
of  similarity  between  one  man  and  another.  As  the 
power  of  discrimination  advances,  the  mind  pays  more 
attention  to  points  of  difference  than  to  points  of  like- 
ness. Indistinguishableness  gives  way  to  clear  and  dis- 
tinct knowledge.  "With  the  further  growth  of  intelligence 
the  mind  seeks  the  hidden  resemblances  in  objects  far 
removed  from  one  another  in  space  and  time,  or  by  sur- 
face appearances.  At  first  sight  the  bat  seems  like  a 
bird,  because  it  can  fly.  Scientific  discrimination  assigns 
it  to  the  class  of  mammals.  The  identification  of  the 
lightning  in  the  clouds  with  the  sparks  of  the  electric 
machine  gave  Franklin  world- wide  reputation  as  a  phi- 
losopher. The  identification  of  the  force  which  causes 
bodies  to  fall  to  the  earth  with  the  force  which  holds  the 
moon  in  its  orbit,  and  with  the  kind  of  force  by  which 
the  sun  attracts  the  bodies  of  the  solar  system,  has  been 
justly  called  the  greatest  example  of  the  power  to  detect 
likeness  in  the  midst  of  diversity.  The  power  of  detect- 
ing similarity  in  diversity  should  be  appealed  to  when- 
ever it  is  helpful  either  for  purposes  of  illustration  or 
discovery.  Algebra  is  shorn  of  half  its  difficulty  as  soon 
as  the  learner  is  led  to  see  that  the  operations  in  multi- 
plication, division,  involution  and  evolution  of  mono- 
mials turn  on  signs,  coefficients,  and  exponents.  Let 
him  grasp  the  thought  that  the  words  add,  subtract, 
multiply,  and  divide  respectively  express  the  law  of  ex- 
ponents in  the  four  operations  above  named ;  and  he  will 
act  only  escape  the  perplexities  of  the  average  student 
in  the  more  difficult  operations  of  ordinary  algebra,  but 


286  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

he  will  also  see  at  a  glance  the  beautiful  truth  which 
underlies  the  manipulation  of  logarithms. 

Thinking  that  ripens  in  knowing  involves  comparison, 

discrimination,   and  formation  of  judgments.     Through 

the  detection  of  likeness   and   unlikeness  in 

Thethink-  . 

ing  that  objects  and  their  relations,  judgments  are 
ripens  into  formed,  inferences  are  made,  and  conclusions 
are  drawn,  which  mark  the  transition  from 
thinking  to  knowing.  Discrimination,  identification, 
judgment,  reasoning,  definition,  division,  and  classifica- 
tion mark  the  stages  through  which  the  mind  passes  in 
thinking  things,  their  relations,  more  especially  their 
causes,  effects,  laws,  and  ends.  Analysis  and  synthesis, 
induction  and  deduction,  are  the  processes  by  which  the 
intellect  explores  the  content  and  extent  of  concepts, 
and  passes  to  general  principles  and  truths,  and  to  their 
applications  in  thought  and  action.  As  processes  of 
mental  activity,  these  are  discussed  in  detail  by  the 
psychologist.  The  laws  of  thought  to  which  they  must 
conform  in  order  to  be  correct  are  set  forth  in  treatises 
on  logic.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  under-estimate  the 
value  of  a  knowledge  of  logic  and  psychology ;  but 
neither  of  them  can  supply  the  place  and  function  of  the 
living  teacher.  He  who  would  learn  to  think  in  some 
special  line  of  research  should  go  to  a  master  of  that 
specialty,  learn  of  him  what  is  well  established  in  the 
chosen  field  of  study,  imbibe  his  methods  of  work,  think 
his  thoughts,  catch  his  spirit,  and  follow  his  advice  until 
the  hour  for  independent  investigation  comes.  Great  is 
the  tonic  effect  of  a  university  atmosphere ;  but  greater 
still  is  the  bracing  influence  of  the  atmosphere  created 
by  a  specialist  who  is  both  a  master  in  his  department 
and  a  master  in  the  art  of  teaching.  The  choice  of  a 
teacher  is  of  more  account  than  the  choice  of  a  university, 
either  at  home  or  abroad. 


THINKING  AND   KNOWING.  287 

Thinking  is  not  the  whole  of  knowing.     Feeling  and 
willing  play  an  important  part  in  thinking  and  knowing. 
"Words  like  heretic,  sceptic,  and  sophist  have  a    Knowing 
history  which  shows  the  distrust  of  mankind  in     i^o^es 
pure  intellectual  effort.     It  would  be  hard  to       mere 


find  a  better  commentary  on  the  effect  of  a  per-  t 
verse  heart  upon  the  operations  of  the  intellect  than  the 
following  paragraph  from  Max  Miiller,  although  it  was 
penned  for  a  purpose  entirely  different  from  the  use  here 
made  of  it. 

"No  title  could  have  been  more  honorable  at  first  than 
was  that  of  Sophistes.  It  was  applied  to  the  greatest 
thinkers,  such  as  Socrates  and  Plato  ;  nay,  it  was  not 
considered  irreverent  to  apply  it  to  the  Creator  of  the 
Universe.  Afterwards  it  sank  in  value  because  applied 
to  one  who  cared  neither  for  truth  nor  for  wisdom,  but 
only  for  victory,  till  to  be  called  a  sophist  became  almost 
an  insult.  Again,  what  name  could  have  been  more 
creditable  in  its  original  acceptation  than  that  of  sceptic  ? 
It  meant  thoughtful,  reflective,  and  was  a  name  given  to 
philosophers  who  carefully  looked  at  all  the  bearings 
of  a  case  before  they  ventured  to  pronounce  a  positive 
opinion.  And  now  a  sceptic  is  almost  a  term  of  re- 
proach, very  much  like  heretic,  —  a  word  which  likewise 
began  by  conveying  what  was  most  honorable,  a  power 
to  choose  between  right  and  wrong,  till  it  was  stamped 
with  the  meaning  of  choosing  from  sheer  perversity  what 
the  majority  holds  to  be  wrong."  * 

There  are  realms  in  which  thought  cannot  beget 
knowledge  of  the  truth  until  there  is  a  radical  change  in 
the  wishes  and  desires  of  the  heart,  in  the  choice  and 
aims  of  the  will,  in  the  movings  of  the  inmost  depths  of 
the  soul. 

*  Max  Mullet's  "  Science  of  Thought,"  page  605. 


XVIII 

THINKING  AND   FEELING 


19  289 


There  is  much  contention  among  men  whether  thought  or  feel- 
ing is  the  better ;  but  feeling  is  the  bow  and  thought  the  arrow ; 
and  every  good  archer  must  have  both.  Alone,  one  is  as  helpless 
as  the  other.  The  head  gives  artillery ;  the  heart,  powder.  The 
one  aims,  and  the  other  fires. 

BEECHER. 

It  may  be  noted  that  medical  men,  who  are  a  scientific  class, 
and,  therefore,  more  than  commonly  aware  of  the  great  importance 
of  disinterestedness  in  intellectual  action,  never  trust  their  own 
judgment  when  they  feel  the  approach  of  disease.  They  know 
that  it  is  difficult  for  a  man,  however  learned  in  medicine,  to 
arrive  at  accurate  conclusions  about  the  state  of  a  human  body  that 
concerns  him  so  nearly  as  his  own,  even  though  the  person  who 
suffers  has  the  advantage  of  actually  experiencing  the  morbid  sen- 
sations. 

HAMERTON. 

When  pupils  are  encouraged  to  make  for  themselves  fresh  com- 
binations of  things  already  known,  additional  progress  is  certain. 
Variety  of  exercise  in  this  way  is  as  attractive  to  children  as  many 
of  their  games.  If,  when  such  exercises  are  given,  the  rivalry  in- 
volved in  taking  places  were  discontinued,  and  all  extraneous 
excitement  avoided,  the  play  of  intelligence  would  bring  an  ample 
reward.  I  plead  for  discontinuance  of  rivalry  in  such  exercises, 
because,  while  it  stimulates  some,  in  other  cases  it  hinders  and  even 
stops  the  action  of  intelligence.  If  any  teacher  doubts  this,  he  may 
subject  a  class  to  experiment  by  watching  the  faces  of  the  pupils, 
and  next  by  asking  from  the  child  who  has  been  corrected  an  ex- 
planation of  the  reason  for  the  correction.  Hurry  in  such  things 
is  an  injury,  and  so  is  all  commingling  of  antagonistic  motives. 
All  fear  hinders  intellectual  action,  and  the  fear  of  wounded  ambi- 
tion offers  no  exception  to  the  rule.  The  fear  of  being  punished  is 
more  seriously  detrimental  than  any  other  form  of  fear  which  can 
be  stirred.  It  is  essentially  antagonistic  to  the  action  of  intelli- 
gence. Let  mind  have  free  play. 

CALDEEWOOD. 

290 


XVIII 
THINKING  AND   FEELING 

IN  all  our  thinking  it  is  very  important  to  get  a  clear 
and  full  vision  of  the  thing  to  be  known.  This  is  not 
always  as  easy  as  it  seems.  Like  Nelson  in  the  battle  of 
Copenhagen,  we  may  consciously  turn  the  blind  eye 
towards  what  we  do  not  like  and  exclaim,  "I  do  not  see 
it."  The  lenses  through  which  we  gaze  may  be  green,  or 
smoked,  or  ill-adjusted,  and  thus  without  suspecting  it 
we  may  see  things  in  false  colors  or  distorted  shapes. 
Our  bodily  condition  may  color  everything  we  see  and 
think.  In  health  and  high  animal  spirits  every  Bodily  con- 
thought  is  rose-colored.  In  periods  of  disease  ditions- 
and  depression  everything  we  think  seems  to  pass,  "  like 
a  great  bruise,  through  yellow,  green,  blue,  purple,  to 
black.  A  liver  complaint  causes  the  universe  to  be 
shrouded  in  gray  ;  and  the  gout  covers  it  with  inky  pall, 
and  makes  us  think  our  best  friends  little  better  than 
fiends  in  disguise." 

One  of  the  greatest  hinderances  to  correct  thinking  is 
prejudice.  Hence  all  who  have  presumed  to  give  advice 
on  the  conduct  of  the  understanding  have  had 

Prejudice. 

something  to  say  concerning  prejudice.  Bacon 
has  a  chapter  on  the  idols  of  the  mind,  and  Locke  con- 
tends that  we  should  never  be  in  love  with  any  opinion. 
In  a  charming  little  volume  on  the  "  Art  of  Thinking," 
Knowlson  has  a  chapter  in  which  he  enumerates  and  dis- 
cusses the  prejudices  arising  from  birth,  nationality,  tem- 
perament, theory,  and  unintelligent  conservatism.  The 
list  might  easily  be  enlarged.  Close  analysis  must  con- 

291 


292          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

vince  any  one  that  feeling  strengthens  all  forms  of  preju- 
dice, and  there  are  very  few,  if  any,  fields  of  thought  in 
which  it  is  not  essential  for  the  attainment  of  truth  to 
divest  ourselves  of  preconceived  notions  and  the  resultant 
feelings,  and  to  weigh  the  arguments  on  both  sides  of  a 
question  before  reaching  a  conclusion. 

A  student  may  take  up  geometry  with  a  feeling  of 
prejudice  for  or  against  the  study,  based  upon  what  he 
has  heard  from  others  concerning  its  difficulties  or  the 
teacher  who  gives  the  instruction ;  but  after  he  has  mas- 
tered the  demonstration  of  a  theorem  he  does  not  lie 
awake  at  night  wishing  the  opposite  were  true.  In  the 
realms  of  mathematics  the  wishes  of  the  heart  are  not  in 
The  wishes  conflict  with  the  conclusions  of  the  intellect. 
of  the  heart  In  the  domain  of  ethical,  social,  historical,  or 
conclusions  religious  truth  the  head  often  says  one  thing 
of  the  mtei-  and  the  heart  another.  ( '  We  see  plainly  enough 

lect>  what  we  ought  to  think  or  do,  but  we  feel  an 
irresistible  inclination  to  think  or  do  something  else." 
In  most  of  the  instances  in  which  the  study  of  science  has 
led  to  agnosticism  the  wish  was  father  to  the  thought. 
When  two  men  argue  the  same  question,  weighing  the 
same  arguments  and  reaching  opposite  conclusions,  as 
did  Stonewall  Jackson  and  his  father-in-law  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War,  the  inclinations  and  wishes  of  the 
heart  must  have  influenced  their  thinking. 

Feeling  is  an  element  in  all  forms  of  mental  activity. 
The  intellect  never  acts  without  stirring  the  emotions. 
Feeiin  an  ^ne  teacher  wno  reproved  a  pupil  for  showing 
element  in  signs  of  pleasure  and  delight  over  the  reasoning 
an  mental  of  Euclid,  saying,  "  Euclid  knows  no  emotion," 

activity. 

must  have  been  a  novice  in  the  art  of  introspec- 
tion. Who  cannot  recall  the  thrill  of  delight  with  which 
he  first  finished  the  proof  of  the  Pythagorean  proposi- 
tion t  Mathematics  is  considered  difficult  j  the  emotions 


THINKING  AND  FEELING.  293 

connected  with  victory  and  mastery  sustain  the  student 
as  he  advances  from  conquest  to  conquest.  The  effort 
which  some  thinkers  make  to  reduce  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe  to  a  few  universal  principles  is,  with- 
out doubt,  sustained  and  stimulated  by  a  feeling  that 
there  must  be  unity  in  the  midst  of  the  most  manifold 
diversity. 

Scientists  and  philosophers  are  prone  to  imagine  them- 
selves free  from  the  prejudices  which  warp  the  thinking 
of  the  common  mind.  Descartes  started  to  divest  him- 
self of  all  preconceived  notions  ;  yet  he  could  not  divest 
himself  of  the  notion  that  he  was  immensely  superior  to 
other  men.  ' '  This  French  philosopher  regarded 
himself  as  almost  infallible,  and  had  a  scorn  of 
all  his  contemporaries.  He  praised  Harvey,  but  says  he 
only  learned  a  single  point  from  him ;  Galileo  was  only 
good  in  music,  and  here  he  attributed  to  him  the  elder 
Galileo's  work  ;  Pascal  and  Campanella  are  pooh-poohed. 
Here  is  an  instance  of  how  pride  in  one's  own  work  may 
beget  a  cheap  cynicism  with  regard  to  the  work  of 
others ;  and  how  as  a  feeling  it  blinds  the  mind  to  excel- 
lences outside  those  we  have  agreed  to  call  our  own." 
Of  men  in  general  Jevons,  in  his  treatise  on  the  "  Physi- 
cal Sciences,"  *  says, — 

"It  is  difficult  to  find  persons  who  can  with  perfect 
fairness  register  facts  for  and  against  their  own  peculiar 
views.  Among  uncultivated  observers,  the  tendency  to 
remark  favorable  and  to  forget  unfavorable  events  is  so 
great  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  their  supposed 
observations.  Thus  arises  the  enduring  fallacy  that  the 
changes  of  the  weather  coincide  in  some  way  with  the 
changes  of  the  moon,  although  exact  and  impartial  regis- 
ters  give  no  countenance  to  the  fact.  The  whole  race  of 

*  Page  402. 


294          THINKING  AND   LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

prophets  and  quacks  live  on  the  overwhelming  effect  of 
one  success  compared  with  hundreds  of  failures  which  are 
unmentioned  or  forgotten.  As  Bacon  says,  '  Men  mark 
when  they  hit,  and  never  mark  when  they  miss.'  And 
we  should  do  well  to  bear  in  mind  the  ancient  story, 
quoted  by  Bacon,  of  one  who  in  Pagan  times  was  shown 
a  temple  with  a  picture  of  all  the  persons  who  had  been 
saved  from  shipwreck  after  paying  their  vows.  When 
asked  whether  he  did  not  now  acknowledge  the  power 
of  the  gods,  'Ay,'  he  answered;  'but  where  are  they 
painted  that  were  drowned  after  their  vows'?'  " 

Sometimes  the  feeling  that  a  given  way  of  looking  at 
things  is  undoubtedly  correct  prevents  the  mind  from 
thinking  at  all.  A  lady  claimed  that  she  had  been 
taught  to  accept  the  statements  of  the  Bible  in  their 
literal  sense,  and  that  in  this  belief  she  was  going  to  live 
and  die.  She  was  asked  to  read  the  twenty-third  Psalm. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  verse  she  was  asked  whether  she 
could  be  anything  else  than  a  sheep  if  the  Lord  was 
literally  her  Shepherd.  When,  a  little  farther  on,  she 
was  asked  in  what  green  pastures  she  had  been  lying 
down,  she  burst  into  tears.  Her  condition,  and  that 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  others,  is  correctly  given 
in  the  opening  pages  of  J.  S.  Mill's  "Subjection  of 
Women."  * 

"So  long  as  an  opinion  is  strongly  rooted  in  the  feel- 
ings, it  gains  rather  than  loses  in  stability  by  having  a 
j.  s.  MIR    preponderating  weight  of  argument  against  it. 
ontheinflu-  por  jf  ft  were  accepted  as  the  result  of  areru- 

enceoffeel-  .  . 

ing  upon    ment,   the  refutation  of  the  argument  might 
thinking,    shake  the  solidity  of  the  conviction  ;  but  when 
-it  rests  solely  on  feeling,  the  worse  it  fares  in  argument- 
ative contest  the  more  persuaded  its  adherents  are  that 

*  Page  6. 


THINKING  AND  FEELING.  295 

their  feeling  must  have  some  deeper  ground  which  the 
arguments  do  not  reach  ;  and  while  the  feeling  remains, 
it  is  always  throwing  up  fresh  intrenchments  of  argu- 
ment to  fill  any  breach  made  in  the  old." 

When  a  man's  opinions  are,  as  he  thinks,  grounded  in 
first  principles,  it  is  but  natural  that  he  should  be  un- 
willing to  abandon  them  without  a  struggle  to  intrench 
himself  behind  impregnable  arguments.  If  he  has 
reached  his  conclusions  as  the  result  of  long  and  careful 
inquiry,  he  has  a  right  to  hold  on  to  them  with  more 
than  ordinary  tenacity.  ~  The  same  regard  for  truth 
which  led  him  to  form  an  opinion  should,  how-  Regard  for 
ever,  make  him  willing  to  change  whenever  he  truth, 
finds  himself  in  the  wrong.  He  should  avoid  the  frame 
of  mind  of  the  Scotch  lady  who,  when  it  was  charged 
that  she  was  not  open  to  conviction,  exclaimed,  "Not 
open  to  conviction !  I  scorn  the  imputation.  But," 
added  she,  after  a  moment's  pause,  "show  me  the  man 
who  can  convince  me."  The  secret  of  this  tenacity  of 
opinion  is  not  love  of  truth,  but  love  of  self, — in  one 
word,  pride. 

In  view  of  the  hinderances  which  certain  kinds  or 
degrees  of  feeling  throw  into  the  way  of  thinking,  it 
might  be  inferred  that  the  thinker  must  suppress  the 
element  of  feeling  in  his  inner  life.  No  greater  mistake 
could  be  made.  If  the  Creator  endowed  man  with  the 
power  to  think,  to  feel,  and  to  will,  these  several  activi- 
ties of  the  mind  are  not  designed  to  be  in  conflict,  and 
so  long  as  any  one  of  them  is  not  perverted  or  allowed  to 
run  to  excess,  it  necessarily  aids  and  strengthens  the 
others  in  their  normal  functions.  Whilst  it  is  a  duty  to 
overcome  prejudice,  fear,  embarrassment,  anxiety,  and 
other  emotions  or  degrees  of  emotion  which  interfere 
with  our  ability  to  think  correctly,  especially  when  face 
to  face  with  an  audience  or  with  our  peers  and  superiors, 


296          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

it  is  equally  a  duty  to  cultivate  the  emotions  which  stim- 
ulate thinking  and  strengthen  the  will.  "Without  the 
Emotions  ability  to  feel  strongly,  it  is  impossible  to  stir 
are  the  hearts  of  an  audience.  A  strong  character 

aeipfui.  .g  impoagibie  without  strong  emotion.  Jesus 
could  weep  and  denounce.  He  showed  the  strongest 
emotion  in  his  public  discourses  and  at  all  the  great 
turning-points  of  his  life.  The  men  and  women  who 
have  done  most  for  the  race  showed  the  element  of  strong 
feeling  in  their  thinking  and  in  their  efforts  at  philan- 
thropy and  reform.  It  is  the  feeling  of  patriotism  that 
sustains  the  soldier  on  the  field  of  battle  and  the  states- 
man in  the  midst  of  public  criticism  and  personal  abuse. 
According  to  Plato,  the  feeling  with  which  education 
begins  is  wonder.  "The  elementary  school," 

baugn  on  says  Dr.  Brumbaugh,  "  does  its  best  work  when 
the  it  creates  a  desire  to  learn,  not  when  it  satisfies 

emotions. 

the  learner."  Teachers  everywhere  are  begin- 
ning to  see  that  it  is  the  mission  of  the  elementary  school 
to  beget  a  desire  for  knowledge  that  will  carry  the  pupil 
onward  and  upward,  and  not  to  make  him  feel  satisfied 
with  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  rudiments,  so  that  he  will 
leave  the  school  at  the  first  opportunity  to  earn  a  penny. 

Dr.  Brumbaugh  further  says, — 

"We  must  recognize  the  emotional  life  as  the  basis  of 
appeal  for  all  high  acting  and  high  thinking.  We  can 
never  make  men  by  ignoring  an  essential  element  in 
manliness.  To  live  well,  we  must  know  clearly,  feel 
keenly,  and  act  nobly ;  and,  indeed,  we  shall  have  noble 
action  only  as  we  have  gladsome  action, — action  inspired 
of  feeling,  not  of  thought.  The  church  made  men  of 
great  power  because  it  made  men  of  great  feeling." 

The  close  connection  between  thinking  and  feeling 
cannot  be  ignored  without  serious  detriment  to  the  in- 
tellectual development  of  the  pupil.  Some  teachers 


THINKING   AND  FEELING.  297 

play  upon  the  feelings  in  ways  that  prevent  accurate  and 
effective  thinking.     The  tones  of  voice  in  which  they 
speak,  their  manner  of  putting  questions  and     playing 
administering  discipline,  their  lack  of  self-con-     upon  the 
trol,  and  their  frantic  efforts  to  get  and  keep     feelln^- 
order  cause  the  pupils  to  feel  ill  at  ease  and  destroy  the 
calmness  of  soul,  which  is  the  first  condition  of  logical 
thinking.     The  skilful  teacher  calls  into  play  feelings 
like  joy,  hope,  patriotism,  that  stimulate  and  invigorate 
the  whole  intellectual  life ;  he  is  extremely  careful  not 
to  stir  emotions  like  fear,  anger,  and  hate,  which  hinder 
clear  and  vigorous  thinking. 

Feeling  plays  an  important  part  in  the  examinations 
by  superintendents  for  the  promotion  of  pupils,  or  by 
State  boards  whose  function  it  is  to  license  persons  to 
teach  or  preach,  to  practise  law,  medicine,  or  dentistry, 
or  to  test  the  fitness  of  applicants  for  some  branch  of 
civil  or  military  service.  Examiners  are  often  responsi- 
ble for  the  failure  of  those  whom  they  examine.  If  the 
first  questions  arouse  the  fear  of  failure,  causing  Responsi- 
the  mind  to  picture  the  disappointment  and  bilityfor 

failure  at 

displeasure  of  parents  and  teachers  and  friends,  examina- 
and  the  other  evils  which  result  from  a  loss  of  tions- 
class  standing,  the  resulting  emotions  hinder  effective 
thinking  and  thus  prevent  the  pupil  from  doing  justice 
to  himself  and  his  teachers.  The  expert  seeks  to  lift 
those  whom  he  examines  above  all  feelings  of  embarrass- 
ment. With  a  friendly  smile,  a  kind  word,  and  a  few 
easy  questions  he  puts  the  mind  at  ease,  dissipates  the 
dread  of  failure,  and  gets  results  which  are  an  agreeable 
surprise  to  all  concerned.  If  he  cannot  otherwise  make 
those  before  him  work  to  the  best  advantage,  he  will  even 
sacrifice  his  dignity  by  the  use  of  a  good-natured  joke 
which  turns  the  laugh  upon  himself  or  upon  some  other 
member  of  the  board  of  examiners.  Jokes  at  the  expense 


298  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

of  any  one  of  those  examined  are  a  species  of  cruelty 
which  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  effect  upon  the  results  of  the  examination. 

Within  certain  limits  thinking  begets  feeling,  and  feel- 
ing stimulates  thinking.  Beyond  these  limits  each  inter- 
feres with  the  other.  When  feeling  rises  to  the  height 
of  passion  it  beclouds  the  judgment  and  prevents  reflec- 
tion. Certain  kinds  of  speculative  thinking  leave  the 
speculative  heart  cold  and  ultimately  destroy  the  better 
thinking.  emotions  and  the  warmer  affections.  "It  is 
terrible,"  said  the  daughter  of  a  voluminous  writer  on 
theology,  "when  a  man  feels  a  perpetual  impulse  to 
write.  It  makes  him  a  stranger  in  his  own  house,  and 
deprives  wife  and  children  of  their  husband  and  father." 
Abstract  thinking  may  be  indulged  in  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  tastes  and  emotions  which  help  to  make  life  worth 
living.  The  oft-quoted  experience  of  Darwin  is  a  case  in 
point.  In  his  autobiography  he  gives  his  experience, 
showing  the  effect  of  his  exclusive  devotion  to  scientific 
pursuits  upon  his  ability  to  enjoy  poetry,  music,  and  pic- 
tures. "Up  to  the  age  of  thirty  and  beyond  it  poetry  of 
many  kinds  gave  me  great  pleasure,  and  even  as  a  school- 
Darwin's  boy  I  took  intense  delight  in  Shakespeare,  es- 
experience.  pecially  in  the  historical  plays.  I  have  also 
said  that  pictures  formerly  gave  me  considerable  and 
music  very  great  delight.  But  now  for  many  years  I  can- 
not endure  to  read  a  line  of  poetry.  I  have  tried  lately 
to  read  Shakespeare,  and  found  it  so  intolerably  dull  that  it 
nauseated  me.  I  have  also  almost  lost  my  taste  for  pictures 
or  music.  Music  generally  sets  me  thinking  too  energeti- 
cally on  what  I  have  been  at  work  on,  instead  of  giving 
me  pleasure.  .  .  .  My  mind  seems  to  have  become  a 
kind  of  machine  for  grinding  general  laws  out  of  large 
collections  of  facts ;  but  why  this  should  have  caused  the 
atrophy  of  that  part  of  the  brain  alone,  on  which  the 


THINKING   AND  FEELING.  299 

higher  tastes  depend,  I  cannot  conceive.  ...  If  I  had 
to  live  my  life  again,  I  would  have  made  a  rule  to  read 
some  poetry  and  listen  to  some  music  at  least  once  a 
•week ;  for  perhaps  the  parts  of  my  brain  now  atrophied 
would  thus  have  been  kept  alive  through  use.  The  loss 
of  these  tastes  is  a  loss  of  happiness,  and  may  possibly 
be  injurious  to  the  intellect,  and  more  probably  to  the 
moral  character  by  enfeebling  the  emotional  part  of  our 
nature."  * 

Every  teacher  has  both  felt  and  witnessed  the  effect  of 
embarrassment  upon  ability  to  think.     To  face  an  audi- 
ence of  a  thousand  people  was  embarrassing  to    The  gight 
some  excellent  thinkers  like  Melanchthon  and  of  an  audi- 
Washington.     On  the  other  hand,  the  sight  of 
a  multitude  of  listening,  upturned  faces  stimulates  natures 
and  temperaments  like  that  of  Martin  Luther  and  Patrick 
Henry,  causing  them  to  think  more  vigorously  and  to  feel 
more  deeply. 

Great  thoughts  spring  from  the  heart.    This  is  certainly 
true  of  thoughts  which  have  lifted  men  to  higher  planes 
of  effort.     And  it  is  true  of  the  best  thoughts       Great 
and  volitions  which  a  pupil  puts  forth.     The    thou&hts- 
desire  for  knowledge  may  develop  into  the  love  of  truth. 
The  student  is  half  made  as  soon  as  he  seeks  knowledge 
for  its  own  sake  and  values  the  possession  of  truth  above 
all  other  worldly  possessions. 

The  Herbartians  deserve  praise  for  the  attention  they 
have  given  the  doctrine  of  interest.  The  older  text-books 
on  psychology  seldom  refer  to  interest  as  an  im- 

Interest. 

portant  element  in  the  education  of  the  child. 
The  greatest  boon  which  can  come  to  a  child  is  happi- 
ness, and  this  was  impossible  in  the  days  when  fear  of 
the  rod  held  sway  in  the  school-room.     Then  children 

*  Darwin's  "  Autobiography,"  page  81. 


300  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

looked  forward  to  the  school  -with  feelings  of  dread  ;  they 
went  with  fear  and  trembling.  From  the  day  that  the 
children  became  interested  in  their  lessons  the  rod  was 
no  longer  required.  Instead  of  crying  because  they  must 
go  to  school,  they  now  cry  because  they  cannot  go. 
Through  interest  the  school  becomes  the  place  to  which 
children  best  like  to  go. 

A  boy  who  was  pronounced  incorrigible,  and  who  had 
been  transferred  from  school  to  school  because  he  could 
not  get  along  with  his  teachers,  at  last  met  a  teacher  who 
discovered  that  he  could  take  apart  and  put  together 
watches  and  clocks.  She  allowed  him  to  fix  her  clock, 
interest  in  and  thus  won  his  heart.  She  asked  him  to  ex- 
a  clock.  piain  to  the  school  the  mechanism  of  instru- 
ments for  keeping  time.  His  interest  in  clocks  she  con- 
nected with  the  numbers  twelve  and  sixty,  then  with  the 
time-table,  with  denominate  numbers,  and  finally  with 
the  whole  subject  of  arithmetic.  Interest  in  the  exercises 
of  the  school  converted  the  incorrigible  boy  into  an  obedi- 
ent and  studious  pupil.* 

There  is  no  more  important  element  of  emotion  for 
teachers  to  cultivate  than  that  which  enters  into  the  feel- 
ing of  interest.  Interest  sustains  the  power  of  thought, 
diminishes  the  need  of  effort  in  the  direction  of  voluntary 
attention,  and  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  successful  teaching, 
book-making,  and  public  speaking.  The  teacher,  the 
writer,  the  speaker  who  wearies  us  has  lost  his  power 
over  us.  The  lesson,  the  book,  the  sermon  that  interests 
us  has  found  an  entrance  to  our  minds ;  the  greater  the 
interest  the  more  potent  and  profound  the  influence  upon 
the  inner  life. 

The  moment  a  teacher  begins  to  lose  interest  in  a  sub- 
ject, that  moment  he  begins  to  lose  his  ability  to  teach 

*  For  this  incident  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Dr.  A.  E.  Winship. 


THINKING  AND  FEELING.  301 

that  subject.  From  this  point  of  view  the  recent  gradu- 
ate has  a  manifest  advantage  over  the  old  pedagogue 
whose  interest  in  the  subjects  of  instruction  has 
been  dulled  by  frequent  repetition.  The  latter  conditions 
can  keep  himself  from  reaching  the  dead-line  ability  to 
by  keeping  up  his  studies  in  the  allied  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  and  by  watching  the  growth  of 
mind  and  heart  in  his  pupils, — a  growth  that  always  re- 
veals something  new  and  interesting  by  reason  of  the 
boundless  possibilities  that  slumber  in  every  human 
being.  The  interest  in  the  growing  mind  is  sponta- 
neously transferred  to  the  branches  of  knowledge  which 
stimulate  that  growth,  and,  in  ways  that  no  one  can  ex- 
plain, the  interest  which  the  teacher  feels  is  commu- 
nicated to  the  pupils  whose  minds  are  prepared  to  grasp 
his  instruction. 

By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  books  taken  from  our 
free  libraries  are  books  of  fiction, — books  which  ap- 
peal to  our  emotional  life.  It  shows  that  even 
those  who  are  habitual  readers  can  be  best 
reached  through  the  emotions.  Of  course,  the  act  of 
reading  proves  that  their  feelings  are  reached  through 
the  intellect ;  yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  emotion  is  the 
element  of  their  inner  life  which  sustains  the  interest  in 
the  novel.  Appeals  to  the  intellect  which  do  not  touch 
the  heart  fail  to  reach  the  deepest  depths  of  our  being, 
and  hence  fail  to  stimulate  in  others  the  productive 
powers  of  the  soul.  Only  thoughts  which  come  from  the 
heart  can  reach  the  heart.  This  is  true  of  the  child  and 
the  adult,  of  the  reader  and  the  listener,  of  the  scientist 
and  the  man  of  affairs,  of  the  author  and  the  editor,  of 
the  orator  and  the  philosopher,  of  the  teacher,  and,  in 
short,  of  all  whose  duty  it  is  to  stimulate  the  thinking 
and  to  influence  the  conduct  of  their  fellow-men. 


XIX 

THINKING  AND  WILLING 


Strong  reasons  make  strong  actions. 

SHAKESPEARE. 

Bad  thoughts  quickly  ripen  into  bad  actions. 

BISHOP  POKTENS. 

The  man  of  thought  strikes  deepest,  and  strikes  safely. 

SAVAGE. 

Reason  is  the  director  of  man's  will,  discovering  in  action  what 
is  good  ;  for  the  laws  of  well-doing  are  the  dictates  of  right  reason. 

HOOKEE. 


304 


XIX 
THINKING  AND  WILLING 

MUCH  thinking  is  spontaneous,  in  the  sense  that  there 
is  no  conscious  effort  of  the  will  to  direct  and  control  the 
activity  of  the  mind.  Under  normal  conditions  the 
stream  of  thought  flows  onward,  like  the  current  of  water 
in  the  bed  of  a  river.  When  the  onward  movement  is 
interrupted,  an  act  of  volition  may  be  needed  to  bring  the 
mind  back  to  the  regular  channel.  There  are  forms  of 
intellectual  activity  called  dreaming,  reverie,  and  medita- 
tion, in  which  the  ideas  follow  each  other  without  any 
effort  to  regulate  them.  Often  they  are  fanciful,  inco- 
herent, and  illogical ;  they  are  suggested  by  passing  ob- 
jects, by  musical  sounds,  perhaps  by  the  stimulating 
influence  of  a  drug  or  narcotic.  Few  can  start  a  train  of 
thought,  winding  up  their  minds  as  they  would  a  clock, 
and  then  letting  it  run  down  until  the  discourse,  lecture, 
or  newspaper  article  is  complete,  no  conscious  effort  of 
the  will  being  required  to  keep  the  mind  from  wander- 
ing. This  may  be  partly  a  gift  of  nature,  but  mostly  it 
is  the  result  of  discipline. 

What  is  discipline?  We  speak  of  mental  discipline, 
of  military  discipline,  of  family  discipline.  What  is 
the  element  which  all  these  have  in  common  ? 

Discipline. 

An  army  is  under  discipline  when  every  sol- 
dier and  every  officer  is  subject  to  the  will  of  his  su- 
perior, so  that  the  entire  body  of  men  can  be  moved 
against  the  foe  at  the  will  of  the  commanding  general. 
A  family  is  under  discipline  when  the  entire  household 

20  305 


306  THINKING   AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

is  under  the  control  of  the  head  of  the  house.  The 
school  is  under  discipline  when  all  the  pupils  are  subject 
to  the  will  of  the  teacher,  and  to  the  rules  which  he  has 
laid  down  for  the  regulation  of  conduct.  The  mind  is 

Mental  under  discipline  when  its  powers  are  under  the 
discipline,  control  of  the  will,  and  its  activities  are  in  ac- 
cord with  the  laws  of  thought.  It  is  important  to  ascer- 
tain the  laws  of  thought  which  underlie  correct  thinking. 
These  are  developed  and  discussed  in  treatises  on  logic, 
— a  science  that  should  be  mastered  not  only  by  those  who 
must  meet  others  in  the  field  of  argument  and  contro- 
versy, but  by  all  who  seek  to  regulate  the  thinking  of 
their  own  minds,  or  to  aid  others  in  the  formation  of  cor- 
rect habits  of  thought. 

Fortunately,  the  law  of  habit  here  comes  into  play  to 
lighten  the  conscious  effort  of  the  will.  When  the  intel- 
lect,  through  the  guidance  of  a  conscious  will, 
has  acted  according  to  the  forms  of  thought 
in  which  the  logician  can  find  no  fallacies,  it  tends  to  act 
again  in  that  way,  and  the  next  time  a  less  expenditure 
of  conscious  effort  is  required.  The  thinking  of  the 
teacher,  if  correct  and  logical,  tends  to  beget  correct  and 
logical  habits  of  thought  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  It  is 
a  piece  of  good  fortune  to  fall  under  the  dominating  in- 
fluence of  a  towering  intellect.  For  a  time  the  growing 
mind  that  is  engaged  in  thinking  the  thoughts,  and  mas- 
tering the  speculations,  the  reflections,  the  reasonings,  of 
a  master  who  is  such  not  merely  in  name,  but  also  in 
fact,  may  be  in  a  subjection  very  like  unto  intellectual 
slavery.  Sooner  or  later  the  day  of  emancipation  ar- 
rives j  and  those  who  were  not  under  the  invigorating 
tuition  of  such  an  intellectual  giant  are  surprised  at  the 
thought-power  developed  by  the  youth  whose  equal  they 
hitherto  fancied  themselves  to  be. 

Those  who  expect  to  spend  their  days  in  teaching,  lee- 


THINKING   AND    WILLING.  397 

taring,  preaching,  pleading,  or  writing  have  great  reason 
to  strive  after  the  discipline  which  results  in  placing  all 
the  powers  of  mind  and  heart  under  the  con-  volitional 
trol  of  the  will.  The  feelings  which  interfere  control. 
with  reflection  should  be  repressed  and  expelled  by 
strenuous  effort.  The  emotions  which  stimulate  think- 
ing should  be  cherished  and  fostered.  The  inner  nexus, 
which  binds  ideas  in  logical  trains  of  thought,  should  be 
followed  until  the  habit  becomes  second  nature. 

Thinking  which  goes  forward  according  to  some  estaD- 
lished  habit  requires  less  effort  than  intellectual  work 
that  is  accompanied  with  much  volitional  effort.  This 
fact  serves  as  a  valuable  indication  to  men  who  must  do 
intellectual  work  for  the  press  or  the  pulpit  or  the 
lecture-room.  Perhaps  no  one  is  better  qualified  to  speak 
on  this  point  than  Dr.  Carpenter,  who  studied  mental 
action  from  the  physiological  point  of  view,  and  whose 
publications  show  the  quality,  as  well  as  the  quantity,  of 
his  intellectual  labor.  He  says, — 

"To  individuals  of  ordinary  mental  activity  who  have 
been  trained  in  the  habit  of  methodical  and  connected 
thinking,  a  very  considerable  amount  of  ivork  Dr.  carpen- 
is  quite  natural ;  and  when  such  persons  are  in  ter- 
good  bodily  health,  and  the  subject  of  their  labor  is  con- 
genial to  them, — especially  if  it  be  one  that  has  been 
chosen  by  themselves,  as  furnishing  a  centre  of  attraction 
around  which  their  thoughts  spontaneously  tend  to  range 
themselves, — their  intellectual  operations  require  but 
little  of  the  controlling  or  directing  power  of  the  will, 
and  may  be  continued  for  long  periods  together  without 
fatigue.  But  from  the  moment  when  an  indisposition  is 
experienced  to  keep  the  attention  fixed  upon  the  subject, 
and  the  thoughts  wander  from  it  unless  coerced  by  the 
will,  the  mental  activity  loses  its  spontaneous  or  auto- 
matic character ;  and  (as  in  the  act  of  walking)  more 


308          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

effort  is  required  to  maintain  it  volitionally  during  a 
brief  period,  and  more  fatigue  is  subsequently  experi- 
enced from  such  exertion  than  would  be  involved  in  the 
continuance  of  an  automatic  operation  through  a  period 
many  times  as  long.  Hence  he  has  found  it  practically 
the  greatest  economy  of  mental  labor  to  work  vigorously 
when  he  feels  disposed  to  do  so,  and  to  refrain  from  exer- 
tion, so  far  as  possible,  when  it  is  felt  to  be  an  exertion.  Of 
course,  this  rule  is  by  no  means  universally  applicable  ; 
for  there  are  many  individuals  who  would  pass  their 
whole  time  in  listless  inactivity  if  not  actually  spurred  on 
by  the  feeling  of  necessity.  But  it  holds  good  for  those 
who  are  sufficiently  attracted  by  objects  of  interest  before 
them,  or  who  have  in  their  worldly  position  a  sufficiently 
strong  motive  to  exertion  to  make  them  feel  that  they 
must  work ;  the  question  with  them  being,  how  they  can 
attain  their  desired  results  with  the  least  expenditure  of 
mental  effort."  * 

There  is  a  danger  to  which  public  speakers  are  ex- 
posed, against  which  the  efforts  of  a  resolute  will  are  not 
too  potent.  To  capture  a  crowd  that  is  more 
easily  moved  by  jokes  than  by  argument,  the 
speaker  resorts  to  sallies  of  wit  and  humor  and  turns  the 
laugh  upon  an  opponent.  The  temptation  to  cultivate 
one's  gifts  in  this  direction  is  very  strong,  and  when 
yielded  to,  it  destroys  the  powers  of  logical  reflection  and 
consecutive  thought.  Wit  is  illogical,  because  it  intro- 
duces into  the  current  of  thought  what  is  foreign  to  the 
subject  in  hand,  the  incongruity  giving  rise  to  the  laugh- 
ter. Wit  and  humor  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  acting  as 
a  safety-valve  to  let  off  the  discontent  which  accumulates 
in  the  human  breast,  and  may  be  used  for  that  purpose 
with  great  effect.  But  they  should  never  be  allowed  to 

*  "Mental  Physiology,"  page  389. 


THINKING  AND    WILLING.  309 

divert  the  stream  of  thought  from  its  logical  channel. 
The  reputation  for  wit  and  humor  may  dispose  people  to 
laugh  at  everything  a  man  says.  It  destroys  their  respect 
for  his  judgment  and  impairs  his  power  to  follow  a  line 
of  thought  to  its  legitimate  conclusion.  The  ability  to 
discuss  a  theme  in  all  its  bearings  and  details  implies  the 
power  to  investigate  a  subject  in  its  essence  and  relations, 
to  resolve  an  idea  into  its  elements,  and  to  present  these 
in  the  form  most  easily  understood, — an  object  which  is 
as  far  from  the  purposes  of  the  funny  man  as  the  poles 
are  from  the  equator. 

All  thinking  tends  towards  the  expression  of  thought. 
"  Every  expression  of  thought,"  says  Tracy,  "whether  it 
be  word,  or  mark,  or  gesture,  is  the  result  of  an     Forms  of 
active  will,  and  as  such  may  be  classed  among     thought- 
the  movements."     Word,  mark,  and  gesture  do  exprei 
not  exhaust  the  list  of  movements  by  which  the  mind 
expresses  thought.     Every  handicraft  is  a  form  of  ex- 
pressing   thought    quite  as    important  as  writing  and 
speaking  and  gesticulating.     The  fine  arts  and  the  useful 
arts  are  so  many  ways  through  which  the  will  passes  into 
thinking  and  issues  in  the  expression  of  thought.     Move- 
ments for  reform  are  the  intense  expressions  of  great 
thoughts  which  have  their  origin  in  the  heart.     The  men 
who  spend  their  lives  in  the  atmosphere  of  colleges  and 
universities  are  apt  to  be  satisfied  if  they  have  expressed 
their  thoughts  in  a  lecture  or  on  the  printed  page.    They 
live  in  books,  and  their  thinking  terminates  in  books. 
The  thinking  which   issues  in  getting  things   done,  in 
deeds,    actions,    achievements,    is  undervalued   and  too 
often  ignored.     University  men  are  waking  up  to  this 
defect  in  their  thinking.     They  are  throwing    Thinking 
themselves    into    movements    for    reform  and    to  action, 
giving  the  world  splendid  examples  of  the  translation  of 
thought  into  vigorous  action.     The  effort  to  carry  theory 


310  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

into  practice  reacts  powerfully  upon  the  mind,  forces  the 
individual  to  see  things  as  they  are,  and  saves  him  from 
the  habit  of  looking  only  for  things  which  the  schools 
have  taught  him  to  expect.  When  thinking  issues  in 
doing,  the  process  promotes  intellectual  honesty.  This 
remark  is  especially  applicable  to  exercises  in  which  the 
hand  makes  in  wood,  metal,  marble,  or  clay  what  the 
mind  has  conceived.  The  execution  cannot  be  accurate 
unless  the  thinking  has  been  accurate  and  satisfactory. 
Drawing  is  a  universal  language.  It  imposes  upon  the 
mind  a  degree  of  accuracy  which  is  wanting  in  the  fleet- 
ing spoken  word  or  even  in  the  more  permanent  printed 
or  written  sentences. 

The  movements  in  manual  training  are  an  excellent 
preparation  for  the  movements  in  the  handicrafts  and  the 
daily  occupations  by  which  men  gain  the  necessaries  and 
the  comforts  of  life.  Ten  thousand  men  are  active  in 
supplying  our  breakfast-table,  and  many  thousand  more 
in  providing  clothing,  shelter,  light,  heat,  and  the  mani- 
fold necessities  and  luxuries  of  modern  society.  All 
these  involve  thinking  quite  as  useful,  as  logical,  and  as 
Thinking  effective  as  the  thinking  which  ends  in  talk  or 
in  business,  printer's  ink.  The  relation  of  thinking  to  doing 
and  the  reflex  influence  which  the  latter  exerts  upon  the 
former  is  seen  in  the  solution  of  problems  and  in  all  exer- 
cises involving  the  application  of  knowledge.  Manual 
training  is  really  and  primarily  a  training  in  thinking, 
but  it  is  the  kind  of  thinking  most  closely  related  to 
thinking  in  things,  and  its  value  in  education  is  so  great 
that  it  has  led  to  the  formulation  of  the  maxim,  We  learn 
to  do  by  doing, — a  maxim  which  deserves  separate  con- 
sideration, because,  as  usually  applied,  it  is  taken  to 
mean  that  doing  by  the  hand  necessarily  and  inevitably 
leads  to  thinking  and  knowing. 

Another  aspect  of  the  relation  of  thinking  to  willing 


THINKING  AND    WILLING,  311 

claims  our  attention.  Thinking  is  an  important  element 
in  the  growth  of  the  will.  The  education  of  the  will  is 
coming  to  be  recognized  as  a  matter  of  supreme  Growth  of 
importance.  The  development  of  character  is  the  wiu- 
everywhere  emphasized.  No  teacher  in  these  days  re- 
gards intellectual  training  as  the  sole  or  chief  aim  of  the 
school.  The  philosopher  is  no  longer  regarded  as  the 
highest  type  of  humanity.  The  age  demands  that  thought 
shall  pass  into  volition,  and  that  volition  shall  manifest 
itself  in  action.  The  executive  is  not  satisfied  with  the 
investigation  of  a  subject  in  its  essence  and  relations,  with 
the  elaboration  of  thought  into  a  system ;  he  must  get 
things  done.  Mere  thinking  he  despises.  The  philoso- 
pher he  regards  as  a  man  troubled  with  ideas,  the  poet  as 
a  man  troubled  with  fancies  and  rhymes  ;  he  hates  men 
who  let  their  minds  "go  astray  into  regions  not  peopled 
with  real  things,  animate  or  inanimate,  even  idealized, 
but  with  personified  shadows  created  by  the  illusions  of 
metaphysics  or  by  the  mere  entanglement  of  words,  and 
think  these  shadows  the  proper  objects  of  the  highest,  the 
most  transcendental  philosophy."  And  the  sympathies 
of  the  multitudes  are  on  the  side  of  the  executive  in  his 
exaltation  of  the  will  as  the  chief  element  of  utility  and 
success. 

The  acts  of  the  will  should  be  guided  by  intelligence. 
The  will  is  weak  and  vacillating  if  the  ends  to  be  accom- 
plished are  not  clearly  conceived,  if  the  purposes  to  be 
accomplished  are  not  definitely  thought  out.  Thinking 
is  the  guide  to  willing.  Thought  gives  direction  to  voli- 
tion. 

There  are  successive  stages  in  the  growth  of  the  will  as 
clearly  defined  as  the  activities  of  memory  and  imagina- 
tion. In  the  first  or  lowest  stage  the  aim  is  some  form  of 
happiness.  In  the  second  stage  the  will  acts  under  the 
influence  of  some  ethical  idea,  commonly  finding  expres- 


312          THINKING-   AND  LEARNING  TO  THINK. 

eion  in  a  maxim  like  the  command,  Thou  shalt  not  steal, 
or  in  some  fixed  occupation  like  a  trade  or  farm  work. 
In  the  third  the  will  acts  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
good  or  its  opposite,  and  from  motives  grounded  in  right 
or  wrong.  In  all  these  stages  of  growth  thinking  is  a 
most  important  factor.  Let  us  go  into  details  for  purposes 
of  illustration.  The  human  will  in  its  process  of  develop- 
ment starts  on  a  physical  rather  than  a  spiritual  basis. 
On  the  one  hand  a  want  is  felt  and  on  the  other  an  im- 
pulse towards  the  satisfaction  of  that  want.  In  course  of 
time  this  impulse  or  appetence  assumes  the  form  of  intel- 
ligent or  conscious  purpose  looking  towards  the  gratifica- 
tion of  felt  wants,  and  then  the  will  begins  to  show  itself 
seif-gratm-  in  the  form  of  clear,  definite  volitions  and  ac- 
cation.  tions.  The  strength  of  the  will  depends  largely 
upon  these  impulses  or  appetences ;  and  their  strength 
in  turn  depends  upon  the  health,  the  temperament,  the 
organization  (physical  and  psychical)  of  the  individual. 
If  by  careful  diet,  exercise,  or  otherwise,  we  invigorate 
these,  we  thereby  furnish  capital  that  will  in  after  years 
bear  compound  interest  in  the  form  of  strong  will-power. 
If  the  diet,  exercise,  play,  sleep,  and  work  are  not  prop- 
erly regulated,  first  by  the  parent,  the  nurse,  and  the 
teacher,  and  later  by  the  individual  himself,  the  appe- 
tences develop  into  appetites  that  enslave  the  will  and 
seriously  interfere  with  its  further  growth.  As  the  power 
to  think  is  developed,  the  will  passes  over  into  a  higher 
stage  of  activity.  The  very  longing  for  happiness  leads 
the  child  to  impose  restrictions  upon  itself.  It  feels 
happy  if  it  can  secure  the  approbation  of  those  with 
whom  it  associates.  If  we  show  our  displeasure  at  some- 
thing it  has  done,  the  little  philosopher  begins  to  practise 
self-denial  in  certain  directions  for  the  purpose  of  regain- 
ing and  retaining  our  good  will.  The  second  stage  is  now 
reached  in  which  self-gratification  gives  place  to  self- 


THINKING  AND    WILLING,  313 

denial,  the  will  acting  under  the  influence  of  one  or 
more  ethical  ideas.  The  child  at  school  is  lifted  upon  this 
loftier  plane  by  the  circumstances  which  sur- 

-,,.  . ,  *  ..        .,  ,       t      •  ,  Self-denial. 

round  him ;  it  must  practise  the  school  virtues, 
— punctuality,  industry,  obedience,  and  the  like ;  it  ac- 
cepts certain  forms  of  self-restraint  in  keeping  quiet,  in 
abstaining  from  play,  in  observing  the  rules  of  the  school. 
Where  the  discipline  is  rigid  and  the  instruction  lacks 
interest,  it  may  even  conceive  of  the  school  as  a  mere 
place  of  self-denial  and  self-restraint.  "Why  do  you 
come  here?"  asked  a  director.  The  little  boy  replied, 
"We  come  here  to  sit  and  wait  for  school  to  let  out." 
The  hours  at  school  can  be  sweetened  by  exercises  in 
thinking  and  expressing  thought  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  school  becomes  the  place  to  which  children  best  like 
to  go.  Some  full-grown  men  have  not  advanced  very  far 
beyond  this  second  stage  in  the  growth  of  the  will.  They 
follow  some  regular  occupation  as  the  boy  does  in  going 
to  school  5  they  practise  certain  forms  of  virtue, — say 
honesty,  so  that  you  could  intrust  to  them  your  pocket- 
book  with  perfect  safety, — but  they  break  the  Sabbath, 
use  God's  name  in  vain,  and  commit  daily  many  other 
sins  and  transgressions.  Occasionally  one  finds  a  school 
in  which  no  pupil  would  dare  to  be  caught  telling  a 
lie,  and  yet  the  moral  tone  is  low,  there  being  vices 
which,  like  a  cankerworm,  eat  out  the  moral 
life  of  the  school.  The  teacher  should  not  feel 
satisfied  until  he  has  raised  the  pupil  to  the  third  stage, 
where  the  will  is  brought  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
good,  and  right  becomes  the  law  of  life. 

Upon  this  highest  plane  different  phases  of  develop- 
ment can  be  detected.  The  law  of  right  may  brandish 
the  avenging  rod  of  conscience  and  drive  the  individual 
into  paths  of  rectitude.  The  idea  of  duty  thus  operating 
alone  may  reduce  him  to  the  subservience  of  a  slave  and 


314          THINKING  AND   LEARNING   TO  THINK, 

prevent  him  from  reaching  the  high  stature  of  perfect 
human  freedom.  This  kind  of  slavery  is  apt  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  struggle  in  which  the  lower  nature  seeks  to 
assert  itself  against  the  higher,  and  if  the  latter  conquers, 
the  person  is  apt  to  be  elated  with  the  feeling  of  victory. 
Whenever  you  hear  a  man  boast  of  the  sacrifices  he  has 
made  in  his  devotion  to  duty,  you  can  rest  assured  he  has 
not  yet  reached  that  lofty  elevation  in  will- culture  upon 
which  the  person  does  right  spontaneously  and  without 
effort,  and  never  dreams  of  having  made  a  sacrifice  in  the 
performance  of  the  hardest  duties. 

Of  course,  the  development  from  the  first  stage  may 
move  in  the  opposite  direction.  If  the  appetences  are 
gratified  beyond  the  requirements  of  self-preser- 
vation, or  of  the  well-being  of  the  child,  they 
grow  into  uncontrollable  desires  and  passions ;  the  indi- 
vidual sinks  deeper  and  deeper  into  selfishness.  He  may 
deny  himself  for  the  sake  of  some  ambition,  or  vice,  or 
wicked  end  which  the  soul  cherishes  ;  then,  unless  lifted 
up  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  will  ultimately  land  in  a  state 
bordering  on  that  of  Mephistopheles  in  Goethe's  Faust, 
a  character  who  found  pleasure  in  human  suffering,  and 
whose  will  was  constantly  under  the  direction  and  inspira- 
tion of  the  principle  of  evil.  He  will  at  last  become  like 
Milton's  Satan,  who  exclaimed,  "  Evil,  be  thou  my  good." 
College  boys  who  delight  in  hazing  innocent  freshmen 
have  gone  far  towards  this  loathsome  stage  of  moral 
degradation,  the  lowest  which  the  will  can  reach  in  its 
downward  career. 

Now,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  relation  of  thinking  to  these 

several  stages  of  will-development.    Volition  presupposes 

Thought    something  to  be  done,  an  end  to  be  sought  and 

and  voii-    accomplished.     If  the  will  is  to  act  steadily  in 

tion-       the  endeavor  to  realize  this  end,  the  end  must 

be  clearly  thought  and  held  before  the  soul  in  definite 


THINKING  AND    WILLING.  315 

form.  To  do  the  right  implies  that  the  right  be  known  as 
the  result  of  right  thinking.  A  soul  ignorant  of  right 
cannot  be  expected  to  practise  the  virtues  which  are 
grounded  in  the  law  of  right.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
forms  of  evil  are  never  conceived  by  young  people  unless 
suggested  to  them  by  their  superiors. 

Volition  issues  in  doing,  and  doing  is  a  powerful  stim- 
ulus to  thinking.  Making  things  out  of  wood,  metal, 
marble,  wax,  papier-mach6,  or  even  out  of  paper  is  genu- 
ine thinking  in  things.  It  is  a  species  of  doing  which 
flows  from  thinking  through  willing  and  reacts  upon  the 
process  of  thinking.  To  see  how  a  thing  is  made  is  better 
than  to  be  told  how,  but  to  make  it  by  our  own  effort, 
skill,  and  thought  is  vastly  more  educative  than  seeing 
and  hearing.  Manual  training  tends  to  make  the  pupil 
intellectually  honest.  He  cannot  get  away  from  a  thought 
expressed  in  wood  or  other  material  as  he  can  from  a 
thought  expressed  in  language  which  may  suffice  to  sug- 
gest his  idea,  but  not  to  give  it  adequate  expression. 
This  influence  of  doing  upon  thinking  has  led  to  the  for- 
mulation of  the  maxim,  We  learn  to  do  by  doing, — a 
maxim  whose  limitations  and  legitimate  meaning  it  will 
be  necessary  to  discuss  in  a  separate  lecture. 


XX 

THINKING  AND  DOING 


817 


When  we  turn  to  modern  pedagogics,  we  see  how  enormously 
the  field  of  reactive  conduct  has  been  extended  by  the  introduction 
of  all  those  methods  of  concrete  object-teaching  which  are  the 
glory  of  our  contemporary  schools.  Verbal  reactions,  useful  as 
they  are,  are  insufficient.  The  pupil's  words  may  be  right,  but 
the  concepts  corresponding  to  them  are  often  direfully  wrong.  In 
a  modern  school,  therefore,  they  form  only  a  small  part  of  what 
the  pupil  is  required  to  do.  He  must  keep  note-books,  make 
drawings,  plans,  and  maps,  take  measurements,  enter  the  labora- 
tory and  perform  experiments,  consult  authorities,  and  write  es- 
says. He  must  do,  in  his  fashion,  what  is  often  laughed  at  by 
outsiders  when  it  appears  in  prospectuses  under  the  title  of  original 
work  ;  but  what  is  really  the  only  possible  training  for  the  doing 
of  original  work  thereafter.  The  most  colossal  improvement  which 
recent  years  have  seen  in  secondary  education  lies  in  the  intro- 
duction of  manual-training  schools  ;  not  because  they  will  give  us 
a  people  more  handy  and  practical  for  domestic  life,  and  better 
skill  in  trades,  but  because  they  will  give  us  citizens  with  an 
entirely  different  intellectual  life.  Laboratory  work  and  shop 
work  engender  a  habit  of  observation,  a  knowledge  of  the  differ- 
ence between  accuracy  and  vagueness,  and  an  insight  into  nature's 
complexity  and  into  the  inadequacy  of  all  abstract  verbal  accounts 
of  real  phenomena,  which  once  brought  into  the  mind  remain 
there  as  lifelong  possessions.  They  confer  precision ;  because,  if 
you  are  doing  a  thing,  you  must  do  it  definitely  right  or  definitely 
wrong.  They  give  honesty ;  for,  when  you  express  yourself  by 
making  things,  and  not  by  using  words,  it  becomes  impossible  to 
dissimulate  your  vagueness  or  ignorance  by  ambiguity.  They 
beget  a  habit  of  self-reliance  ;  they  keep  the  interest  and  attention 
always  cheerfully  engaged,  and  reduce  the  teacher's  disciplinary 
function  to  a  minimum. 

WILLIAM  JAMES. 


318 


XX 
THINKING  AND  DOING 

THE  best  methods  of  instruction  in  the  ordinary  school 
aim  at  the  expression  of  thought  in  language.  If  a  thing 
has  been  well  said,  the  teacher  and  the  examiner  are  apt 
to  make  no  further  inquiries.  Although  the  expression 
of  thought  in  written  or  spoken  language  is  a  species  of 
doing,  there  is  often  a  wide  chasm  between  getting  a 
thing  said  and  having  it  done.  Many  of  the  saying  and 
reforms  and  revolutions  thought  out  by  uni-  doing. 
versity  professors  never  get  beyond  the  room  in  which 
they  lecture  or  the  page  on  which  they  formulate  their 
ideas.  The  freedom  of  speech  in  the  universities  never 
troubles  a  despotic  government  until  the  ideas  of  the 
professors  and  students  show  signs  of  passing  into  the 
life  of  the  nation.  The  difference  between  speech  and 
action,  between  the  man  of  words  and  the  man  of  deeds, 
has  long  been  felt  and  emphasized.  The  favorite  method 
of  teaching  by  lectures,  and  requiring  the  pupil  to  take 
notes,  fails  utterly  if  it  stops  with  mere  telling  how  a 
thing  is  to  be  done,  and  is  not  followed  by  actual  doing 
on  the  part  of  the  learner.  Work  in  the  shop,  in  the 
field,  and  in  the  factory  often  proves  more  effective  in 
fitting  a  boy  to  earn  a  living  than  the  theoretical  instruc- 
tion of  the  schools.  The  advantage  of  doing  over  tell- 
ing as  a  means  of  learning  has  led  to  the  formulation 
of  the  maxim,  "  We  learn  to  do  by  doing,"  and  some 
educational  reformers  have  announced  the  maxim  as  a 
principle  of  education  universal  in  its  application. 
Hence  it  is  worth  while  to  clarify  its  meaning  and  to 

319 


320          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ascertain  its  limitations.  In  so  doing,  we  shall  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  true  relation  between  thinking  and  doing. 
A  young  man  possessed  of  unbounded  faith  in  this 
maxim  came  to  town  for  the  purpose  of  practising  medi- 
The  maxim  cine  and  surgery.  He  announced  that  if  any 
applied  to  person  gOt  sick  he  proposed  to  give  them  medi- 

medicine 

and  cine  in  the  hope  of  learning  the  physiological 
surgery.  an(j  therapeutic  effects  of  the  various  drugs. 
If  any  limbs  were  to  be  amputated,  he  was  willing  to  try 
his  hand,  in  the  hope  of  ultimately  learning  how  to  per- 
form surgical  operations.  He  was  too  simple  to  succeed 
as  a  quack.  He  did  not  get  a  single  patient ;  the  people 
wisely  gave  him  no  opportunity  of  learning  to  do  by 
doing. 

Equally  foolish  were  it  thus  to  apply  the  maxim  to 
any  of  the  other  professions.  "Would  you,  with  life  or 
The  maxim  Pr°Perty  a^  stake,  allow  a  novice  to  plead  your 
in  the  other  cause  at  court  in  order  that  he  might  learn  to 
professions.  plead  by  piea(jing?  ^Vho  would  waste  the 

golden  Sabbath  hours  in  listening  to  one  who  was  trying 
to  learn  to  preach  by  preaching?  The  civilized  world 
regards  knowledge,  which  is  the  product  of  the  act  of 
learning,  as  the  indispensable  guide  of  those  who  offer 
their  services  at  the  bar,  from  the  pulpit,  or  in  the  sick- 
room. When  a  Yale  professor  was  asked  whether  study 
was  required  of  those  divinely  called  to  preach,  he  re- 
plied that  he  had  read  of  but  one  instance  in  which  the 
Lord  condescended  to  speak  through  the  mouth  of  an  ass. 
Even  an  ass  may  learn  to  do  some  things  by  continu- 
ally doing  them  in  a  blind  way,  and  that,  too,  in  spite 
of  his  proverbial  stubbornness ;  but  such  learning  by 
blind  practice  is  unworthy  of  the  school-life  of  a  being 
gifted  with  human  intelligence,  and  capable,  it  may  be, 
of  filling  a  profession.  Instinct  may  guide  a  bee  or  a 
beaver ;  but  knowledge  should  guide  man  in  the  arts 


THINKING  AND  DOING.  321 

and  habits  which  he  acquires.  This  fact  is  not  ignored 
in  the  maxim  as  originally  given  by  Comenius.  "  Things 
to  be  done  should  be  learned  by  doing  them. 
Mechanics  understand  this  well :  they  do  not 
give  the  apprentice  a  lecture  upon  their  trade,  but  they 
will  let  him  see  how  they,  as  masters,  do  j  then  they 
place  the  tool  in  his  hands,  teach  him  to  use  it  and  imi- 
tate them.  Doing  can  be  learned  only  by  doing,  writing 
by  writing,  painting  by  painting,  and  so  on."  There  is 
in  this  statement  a  clear  recognition,  on  the  one  hand, 
of  the  knowledge-getting  which  precedes  and  accom- 
panies all  intelligent  doing,  and,  on  the  other,  of  the 
practice  which  is  needful  for  the  attainment  of  skill. 
The  master  mechanic  seeks  first  to  give  his  apprentice  a 
clear  concept  of  what  is  to  be  done  ;  and  the  knowledge 
thus  acquired  through  the  eye,  and  perhaps  partly 
through  hearing  directions  and  explanations,  is  after- 
wards put  into  practice  by  the  actual  manipulation  of 
tools  and  materials.  If  the  maxim  had  been  allowed  to 
stand  in  this,  its  original  form  and  meaning,  no  one 
could  have  objected  to  its  use  and  application.  But 
when  the  attempt  was  made  to  elevate  it  into  a  principle 
of  binding  force  for  all  teaching ;  when,  furthermore,  the 
form  was  shortened  so  as  to  widen  the  meaning,  and  the 
maxim  was  then  applied  to  regulate  the  acquisition  of 
every  form  of  human  activity,  both  physical  and  mental,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  protests  were  heard,  and  the  neces- 
sity was  felt  of  investigating  the  maxim  for  the  purpose 
of  ascertaining  its  limitations  and  defining  its  meaning. 

Yet  we  must  not  fail  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment 
of  the  services  to  education  rendered  by  those  who  lifted 
the  maxim  into  prominence.  How  often  were  value  of 
pupils  expected  to  learn  one  thing  by  doing  the  maxim. 
another.  Drawing  was  advocated  because  it  would  im- 
prove the  penmanship.  Silent  reading  or  thought- 

21 


322          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

getting  was  to  be  learned  by  oral  reading  or  thought- 
giving.  The  alphabet  was  taught  as  if  the  names  of  the 
letters  would  make  the  child  familiar  with  the  sounds. 
The  idea  of  number  was  to  be  gotten  by  naming  the 
numbers  or  imitating  the  Arabic  notation.  Facility  and 
accuracy  in  the  use  of  language  were  to  be  acquired  from 
exercises  in  parsing  and  analysis.  Familiarity  with 
birds,  flowers,  minerals,  chemicals,  etc.,  was  to  be  gained 
from  the  learned  phraseology  of  the  text-books.  Some- 
times even  the  teachers  knew  very  little  more  than  the 
technical  terms.  "When  the  great  ornithologist,  Wilson, 
visited  Princeton  College,  the  professor  of  natural  his- 
tory scarcely  knew  a  sparrow  from  a  woodpecker.  A 
great  change  has  come  over  Princeton  and  all  other 
higher  institutions  of  learning  ;  and  the  new  influence  has 
been  felt  in  our  high  schools,  and  even  in  the  grades  below. 
"Whilst  cheerfully  acknowledging  the  value  of  the 
maxim  of  Comenius,  we  should,  nevertheless,  insist  on 
Maxims,  the  difference  between  a  maxim  which  may  regu- 
principies.  iate  our  conduct  in  specific  cases  and  a  prin- 
ciple which  is  an  all-controlling  guide  in  operations. 
Coleridge  says,  "A  maxim  is  a  conclusion  upon  ob- 
servation of  matters  of  fact,  and  is  speculative  ;  a  prin- 
ciple has  truth  in  itself,  and  is  prospective."  It  is 
always  dangerous  to  generalize  upon  facts  observed  in 
one  realm  of  investigation,  and  then  to  allow  others  to 
apply  these  general  statements  to  realms  as  diverse  from 
the  original  field  of  observation  as  mind  or  spirit  is  from 
matter.  The  disciples  in  such  cases  always  manifest  the 
hidden  weaknesses  in  the  system  of  their  master.  They 
rush  in  where  he  would  have  feared  to  tread.  They  push 
his  language  to  extremes,  from  which  his  deeper  insight, 
broader  vision,  and  larger  experience  would  have  caused 
him  to  shrink.  Comenius  framed  the  maxim  from  the 
observation  of  bodily  acts ;  some  seek  to  apply  it  to  every 


THINKING  AND  DOING.  323 

form  of  human  activity.  The  original  language  has  been 
twisted  into  a  statement  that  sounds  paradoxical.  "  We 
learn  to  do  by  doing."  What  can  these  words  mean! 
If  we  can  do  a  given  thing,  what  need  is  there  of  learn- 
ing to  do  that  thing.  If  we  cannot  do  the  thing  to  be 
learned  by  the  doing  of  it,  how  can  any  doing  on  our 
part  issue  in  learning?  Evidently  the  maxim  in  its 
modern  form,  if  it  is  at  all  valid,  must  partake  of  the 
nature  of  a  paradox,  which,  though  seemingly  absurd,  is 
yet  true  in  essence  or  fact.  For  the  purpose  of  testing 
the  validity  of  a  paradoxical  statement,  there  is  no  better 
way  than  to  ascertain  its  possible  meanings,  to  eliminate 
those  evidently  not  intended,  and  finally  to  investigate 
the  one  or  more  senses  or  interpretations  that  may  legiti- 
mately be  put  upon  the  language.  The  investigation 
will,  in  this  instance,  reveal  the  relation  existing  between 
doing  and  the  act  of  learning. 

In  the  first  place,  the  maxim  cannot  mean  that  we  learn 
to  do  by  every  kind  of  doing.  The  kind  of  doing  by 
which  the  young  man  hoped  to  learn  medicine  Analysis  of 
and  surgery  was  ridiculed  centuries  ago ;  no  the  maxim. 
one  in  our  day  would  advocate  mere  blind  doing  as  a 
means  of  learning.  The  maxim  must  refer  to  doing 
guided  by  an  intelligent  will.  The  doing  must  be  guided 
by  thinking  that  is  based  upon  correct  and  reliable  data 
or  premises. 

Again,  the  maxim  cannot  mean  that  we  learn  one  thing 
by  doing  another.  The  maxim  was  emphasized  in  protest 
against  the  absurdity  of  some  of  our  methods  of  teach- 
ing. It  may  happen  that  the  learner  accidentally  dis- 
covers one  thing  while  seeking  to  find  out  some  other 
thing ;  to  expect  that  this  shall  always  be  the  case  is  to 
invite  disappointment.  For  instance,  pupils  do  not  learn 
to  spell  while  studying  books  if  attention  is  absorbed  in 
the  meaning,  and  is  not  drawn,  in  separate  exercises,  to 


324          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

the  correct  orthography  of  words  that  are  apt  to  be  mis- 
spelled. 

There  is  a  third  limitation  to  the  maxim  on  the  side  of 
attention.  How,  for  instance,  is  the  art  of  writing  ac- 
quired ?  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a  boy  cannot  learn 
to  write  without  himself  writing  ;  it  is  equally  true  that 
he  is  not  always  learning  or  improving  in  penmanship 
while  he  is  practising  with  his  pen  upon  paper.  From 
the  teacher  or  the  copy  he  gets  a  concept  of  the  letters  to 
be  made.  The  first  efforts  at  imitation  are  fraught  with 
defects.  The  pupil  must  clearly  recognize  wherein  he 
failed,  and  earnestly  strive  to  remedy  the  defects,  if  the 
next  attempt  is  to  be  an  improvement.  The  maxim,  if 
here  applied,  must  mean  that  the  pupil  learns  to  do  by 
continually  doing,  as  nearly  as  he  can,  the  thing  to  be 
done.  With  each  step  of  progress,  his  concept  of  the 
form  of  the  letters  and  how  to  make  them  becomes 
more  accurate ;  or,  in  other  words,  his  power  and  skill 
keep  pace  with  his  knowledge.  Finally,  after  much 
practice,  the  nerves  and  muscles  which  control  the  act  of 
writing  are  properly  co-ordinated  5  the  habit  of  writing 
with  ease  is  acquired  ;  the  process  becomes  largely  sub- 
conscious, if  not  altogether  automatic.  The  learner  has 
at  length  reached  the  stage  in  which  his  attention  is  no 
longer  concentrated  upon  the  form  and  beauty  of  the 
letters,  but  rather  upon  the  thought  to  be  expressed,  and 
it  is  quite  possible  that  henceforth  his  chirography  will 
grow  more  illegible  the  more  he  writes.  Of  course,  he  is 
now  learning  the  art  of  composing  by  composing  ;  but  he 
has  ceased  to  learn  in  the  direction  of  his  handwriting 
by  writing,  because  the  attention  is  riveted  upon  some- 
thing else.  Even  before  the  subconscious 

Fatigue. 

stage  is  reached,  practice,  if  too  long  continued, 
may  exhaust  the  powers  of  attention,  and  doing  can  no 
longer  issue  in  learning  by  reason  of  fatigue. 


THINKING  AND  DOING.  325 

On  the  score  of  attention  there  is  a  limit  to  the  appli- 
cation of  the  maxim  in  another  direction.  Talking,  oral 
reading,  and  public  speaking  may  be  spoiled  by  too 
much  attention.  Practice  in  these,  under  the  guidance 
of  an  injudicious  teacher,  may  serve  to  make  the  gestures 
too  studied,  the  pronunciation  too  precise,  and  the  tones 
of  the  voice  too  artificial,  defects  by  which  the  hearer's 
mind  is  drawn  from  the  thought  to  the  delivery. 

The  lack  of  good  elocutionary  drill  in  youth  is  a  seri- 
ous misfortune,  yet  the  writer  cannot  help  blaming  the 
elocutionists  for  ruining  one  public  speaker  among  his 
acquaintances.  Under  their  tuition  the  gestures  and 
articulation  of  this  friend  have  become  almost  faultless ; 
but  there  is  such  a  self-conscious  air  about  his  platform 
utterances  that  the  audience  can  think  of  nothing  except 
the  delivery.  By  his  efforts  at  doing  he  has  learned 
most  emphatically  not  to  do.  The  same  thing  may 
happen  in  elementary  instruction,  and  in  the  practice- 
schools  connected  with  our  State  normal  schools.  Inju- 
dicious criticism  by  the  teacher  may  so  rivet  the 
attention  upon  the  utterance  that  the  pupils  injudicious 
lose  sight  of  the  thought  to  be  expressed,  and  criticism. 
the  more  they  practise  under  his  guidance  the  worse 
their  reading  becomes.  The  vocal  and  physical  elements, 
in  the  act  of  oral  reading  or  speaking,  should  spring 
spontaneously  out  of  the  thought  and  sentiment  to  be 
conveyed.  Any  drill  which  interferes  with  this  natural 
connection  between  the  mental  and  the  physical  is  inde- 
scribably bad,  and  should  never  be  regarded  as  a  means 
of  learning.  Equally  severe  must  be  the  sentence  of 
condemnation  upon  much  of  the  criticism  to  which  pupil 
teachers  are  subjected  by  their  fellow-students  and  their 
critic-teachers  at  our  normal  schools,  and  upon  the  com- 
ments made  by  candidates  for  the  ministry  and  their  pro- 
fessors upon  the  efforts  of  the  embryo  preacher  during 


326          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

the  so-called  homiletical  exercises.  Injudicious  fault- 
finding leads  to  a  kind  of  doing  which  cannot  issue  in 
learning. 

Within  these  limitations  we  find  a  wide  field  for  the 

application  of  the  maxim  to  our  efforts  at  learning  to  think 

Appiica-     and  to  express  thought.     The  hand  performs  a 

tion.  very  important  function  in  aiding  the  mind 
to  perfect  its  concepts.  The  metric  system  remains 
a  dark,  confused  mass  of  names  so  long  as  the  pupil 
does  not  actually  handle  and  use  the  metric  units  of 
weights  and  measures.  A  few  days  of  manual  training, 
during  which  the  learner  is  compelled  to  measure  accu- 
rately, are  of  immense  account  in  developing  accurate 
ideas  and  accurate  thinking.  Of  all  the  ways  of  express- 
ing thought,  those  by  the  hand  and  the  tongue  are  more 
perfect  than  those  by  the  eye,  the  face,  the  gesture,  the 
bodily  movement.  The  latter  are  well  adapted  to  ex- 
press feeling  ;  the  former,  to  express  thought.  Few  have 
ever  thought  of  the  marvellous  mechanism  given  to  a 
The  arm  human  being  in  the  arm  and  hand.  A  glimpse 
and  hand,  from  the  mathematician's  point  of  view  is  here 
very  interesting.  A  pencil  fastened  to  the  end  of  a 
ruler  revolving  around  a  fixed  point  will  describe 
a  circle.  If  the  pencil  be  fastened  to  the  end  of  a 
second  ruler  revolving  around  the  end  of  the  first, 
while  the  first  revolves  around  the  original  centre,  the 
pencil  will  describe  a  very  complicated  curve.  If  three 
radii,  revolving  in  this  way,  be  joined  together,  the  pencil 
at  the  end  of  the  third  can  be  made  to  describe  the  cycles 
and  epicycles  by  which  the  ancient  astronomers  ex- 
plained the  movements  of  the  planets.  The  modern 
mathematician  has  shown  that,  by  annexing  a  fourth,  a 
fifth,  and  a  sixth  radius,  each  revolving  around  the  pre- 
ceding, while  the  first  is  moving  around  the  original 
centre,  all  curves  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  orders  can  be 


THINKING  AND  DOING.  327 

described.  Let  any  one  examine  his  right  arm,  starting 
from  the  shoulder  and  ending  with  the  fingers,  and  he 
will  find  that  since  infancy  he  has  had  this  mechanism 
for  executing  curves  and  movements,  has  been  using  this 
wonderful  system  of  revolving  radii  to  express  thought, 
and  that  it  has  been  to  him  a  source  of  skill  in  thinking 
and  doing.  When  viewed  in  their  anatomical  and 
physiological  aspects,  human  arms  and  hands  are  seen  to 
be  a  still  more  wonderful  mechanism,  rivalled  only  by  the 
tongue  in  capability  for  describing  any  curve  and  utter- 
ing any  kind  of  thought.  Whilst  the  tongue  may  speak 
many  oral  languages,  the  hand  writes  them  all,  and  sup- 
plies additional  methods  for  expressing  thought  in  draw- 
ing, painting,  sculpture,  instrumental  music,  in  the 
various  handicrafts,  and  in  the  machines  which  act  like 
man's  hand  made  bigger,  more  powerful,  more  tireless. 

From  this  point  of  view  one  can  see  a  wide  field  for 
the  intelligent  application  of  the  maxim  to  our  efforts 
at  learning  to  write,  to  talk,  to  walk,  to  play  on  a  mu- 
sical instrument,  or  to  handle  the  tools  of  some  handi- 
craft. If  questioned  with  reference  to  these  and  kindred 
activities,  the  physiologist  would  answer  that  the 
repeated  action  of  the  nerves  and  muscles  in  specific 
functions  fits  them  the  better  to  act  in  the  same  func- 
tions, and  that  the  effect  of  the  exercise  of  any  function 
may  be  stored  up  so  as  to  increase  the  facility  of  the 
nervous  structure  to  exercise  again  every  similar  func- 
tion. The  psychologist  would  say  that  any  normal  act 
performed  under  the  guidance  of  an  intelligent  will 
leaves,  as  its  enduring  result,  an  increased  power  to  act 
and  a  tendency  to  act  again  in  like  manner.  Common 
parlance,  which  is  apt  to  enshrine  its  wisdom  in  proverbs, 
simply  says,  Practice  makes  perfect.  Doing,  when  it 
engrosses  the  attention,  exerts  a  reflex  influence  upon 
thinking ;  after  it  sinks  to  the  subconscious  level  it 


328          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

ceases  to  exert  a  helpful  influence.  The  methods  adopted 
in  our  manual-training  schools  are,  in  this  respect,  much 
superior  to  those  pursued  under  the  old  apprentice  sys- 
tem. The  master  mechanic  found  it  to  his  interest  to 
Appren-  keep  the  apprentice  upon  one  kind  of  work 
tices.  until  a  high  degree  of  skill  was  attained.  He 
used  the  apprentice  as  a  means  to  an  end, — the  end  being 
the  production  of  things  that  would  sell  and  thus  reim- 
burse the  master  for  the  time  and  trouble  of  teaching  his 
trade  to  another.  The  mysteries  of  the  trade  were  kept 
to  the  last  for  fear  the  apprentice  would  quit  before  the 
expiration  of  the  time  for  which  he  was  indentured.  No 
better  plan  for  crushing  the  intellectual  life  could  have 
been  conceived.  The  manual-training  school,  on  the 
other  hand,  makes  the  boy,  and  not  the  product,  the  end 
Manual  of  its  training,  the  object  of  chief  concern.  It 
training,  geeks  not  merely  to  make  the  man  a  better 
workman,  but  the  workman  a  better  man.  No  pupil  is 
asked  to  go  through  the  same  movement,  to  do  the  same 
piece  of  work,  for  the  purpose  of  developing  skill,  until 
every  trace  of  interest  is  gone.  Nothing  is  made  for  the 
purpose  of  selling ;  everything  prescribed  is  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  the  pupil's  powers,  to  enable  him 
to  express  thought  by  the  use  of  working-tools  and  in- 
struments. The  working-drawing  and  the  model  are  the 
symbols  which  come  nearest  to  a  full  representation  of 
the  thing  to  be  made.  The  word,  the  clay,  the  stone,  the 
metal,  the  leather,  the  cloth,  are  the  materials  in  which 
thought  finds  its  final  expression.  Nothing  is  carried  so 
far  as  to  deaden  the  boy's  interest  in  what  he  is  doing  ; 
the  charm  of  novelty  is  kept  up  from  day  to  day.  If  the 
first  product  is  defective,  a  new  problem  is  set,  involving 
the  same  fundamental  operations,  or  the  use  of  the  same 
tools  and  instruments.  The  manual-training  school  and 
the  trade  school,  if  properly  conducted,  thus  become  a 


THINKING  AND  DOING.  329 

most  valuable  means  for  developing  the  power  to  think  in 
things.  It  aims  to  create  the  power  to  think,  as  well  as 
the  power  to  do ;  the  two  are  made  commensurate  and 
mutually  helpful.  The  thinking  is  made  to  issue  in 
doing,  and  the  doing  is  kept  from  sinking  into  the  sub- 
conscious stage,  where  it  tends  to  degrade  the  individual 
to  the  mere  level  of  a  machine.  Within  these  limitations 
we  can  endorse  Professor  "Wilson's  tribute  to  the  hand, 
and  subscribe  to  his  demand  that,  as  in  the  days  of  Israel's 
glory,  it  shall  be  trained  in  some  useful  handicraft,  not 
merely  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  but  more  especially  as 
a  means  of  making  the  pupil  a  better  thinker,  a  com- 
pleter  man. 

"  When  I  think  of  all  that  man's  and  woman's  hand 
has  wrought,"  says  he,  "  from  the  day  that  Eve  put  forth 
her  erring  hand  to  pluck  the  fruit  of  the  forbidden  tree 
to  that  dark  hour  when  the  pierced  hands  of  the  Saviour 
were  nailed  to  the  predicted  tree  of  shame,  and  of  all 
that  human  hands  have  wrought  of  good  and  evil  since, 
I  lift  up  my  hand  and  gaze  upon  it  with  wonder  and  awe. 
What  an  instrument  for  good  it  is !  What  an  instrument 
for  evil !  And  all  day  long  it  never  is  idle.  There  is  no 
implement  which  it  cannot  wield,  and  it  should  never  in 
working  hours  be  without  one.  We  unwisely  restrict 
the  term  handicrafts-man  or  hand-worker  to  the  more 
laborious  callings ;  but  it  belongs  to  all  honest,  Handi- 
earnest  men  and  women,  and  is  a  title  which  crafts. 
each  should  covet.  For  the  queen's  hand  there  is  the 
sceptre,  and  for  the  soldier's  hand  the  sword ;  for  the 
carpenter's  hand  the  saw,  and  for  the  smith's  hand  the 
hammer ;  for  the  farmer's  hand  the  plough ;  for  the 
miner's  hand  the  spade  ;  for  the  sailor's  hand  the  oar ; 
for  the  painter's  hand  the  brush  ;  for  the  sculptor's  hand 
the  chisel ;  for  the  poet's  hand  the  pen ;  and  for  woman's 
hand  the  needle.  And  if  none  of  these,  or  the  like,  will 


330         THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

fit  us,  the  felon's  chain  should  be  round  our  wrist,  and  our 
hand  on  the  prisoner's  crank.  But  for  each  willing  man 
or  woman  there  is  a  tool  they  may  learn  to  handle  ;  for 
all  there  is  the  command,  '  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth 
to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might' " 


XXI 

THINKING   IN   THE  ARTS 


881 


A  meagre  soul  can  never  be  made  fat,  nor  a  narrow  soul  large, 
by  studying  rules  of  thinking. 

PROFESSOR  BLACKIE. 

Have  your  thinking  first,  and  plenty  to  think  about,  and  then 
ask  the  logician  to  teach  you  to  scrutinize  with  a  nice  eye  the 
process  by  which  you  have  arrived  at  your  conclusions. 

PROFESSOR  BLACKIE. 

Invention,  though  it  can  be  cultivated,  cannot  be  reduced  to 
rule  ;  there  is  no  science  which  will  enable  a  man  to  bethink  him- 
self of  that  which  will  suit  his  purpose.  But  when  he  has  thought 
of  something,  science  can  tell  him  whether  that  which  he  has 
thought  of  will  suit  his  purpose  or  not.  The  inquirer  or  arguer 
must  be  guided  by  his  own  knowledge  and  sagacity  in  his  choice 
of  the  inductions  out  of  which  he  will  construct  his  argument. 
But  the  validity  of  the  argument  when  constructed  depends  upon 
principles,  and  must  be  tried  by  tests  which  are  the  same  for  all 
descriptions  of  inquiries,  whether  the  result  be  to  give  A  an  estate, 
or  to  enrich  science  with  a  new  general  truth. 

J.  S.  MILL. 


882 


XXI 

THINKING  IN   THE  ARTS 

FOR  centuries  men  have  been  disposed  to  look  with 
disdain  upon  the  occupations  in  which  the  hands  and 
the  body  are  more  concerned  than  the  mind.  The  arts 
in  which  thought  predominates  were  honored  above  the 
handicrafts  ;  and  it  is  only  in  recent  years  that  educators 
have  begun  to  recognize  the  educative  value  of  thinking 
through  the  hand  as  we  find  it  exemplified  in  schools 
for  manual  training.  A  comparison  of  the  various  arts 
will  serve  to  dignify  this  kind  of  training  and  to  set  it 
in  a  clearer  light  before  teachers  and  boards  of  education. 

Mediaeval  thinkers  divided  the  arts  into  two  classes, 
which  they  called  the  mechanic  and  the  liberal  arts,  and 
enumerated  seven  arts  in  each  class. 

The  seven  mechanic  arts  were  Agriculture,  Propaga- 
tion of  Trees,  Manufacture  of  Arms,  Carpenter's  Work, 
Medicine,  "Weaving,  and  Ship-building.  The  Mechanic 
primary  operations  were  mechanical,  as  the  arts- 
name  implies,  and  hence  involved  a  genuine  thinking  in 
things.  Their  number  has  been  greatly  multiplied  ;  the 
operations  have  grown  wonderfully  complex  ;  thought 
upon  the  activities  which  they  necessitate  has  led  to  the 
discovery  of  guiding  principles,  and  some  have  risen  to 
the  rank  of  regular  professions.  The  growth  and  the 
care  of  trees  have  given  rise  to  forestry.  Ship-building 
and  the  manufacture  of  arms  involve  science  of  the 
highest  order.  The  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery 

333 


334          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

requires  skill  based  upon  kinds  of  knowledge  and  think- 
ing that  are  rigidly  scientific.  The  thoughts  which  have 
been  crystallized  in  modern  inventions  deserve  equal 
rank  with  the  thoughts  which  philosophers  have  woven 
into  systems.  The  various  trades  of  civilized  society 
necessitate  the  expression  of  thought  through  the  hand. 
Manufactures  and  commerce  involve  transactions,  opera- 
tions, and  competition  requiring  the  highest  intelligence, 
the  most  accurate  thinking,  the  most  vigorous  effort. 
Any  youth  whose  training  has  fitted  him  to  excel  in 
these  is  sure  of  work  and  fair  compensation. 

Far  too  often  the  school  has  taught  the  pupil  to  under- 
value and  even  to  despise  useful  occupations.     Scientific 
research,  philosophic  speculation,  and  literary 

occupa-  productivity  have  been  lauded  as  more  honor  - 
tions.  afoiQ  vocations.  Any  honest  occupation  that 
furnishes  adequate  exercise  for  man's  marvellous  facul- 
ties is  honorable  in  the  sight  of  God.  If  two  angels 
should  be  sent  from  heaven,  one  to  rule  a  kingdom,  the 
other  to  break  stones  upon  the  highway,  each  of  them 
would  be  happy  in  the  thought  that  he  was  fulfilling 
his  divinely  appointed  mission,  and  each  would  receive, 
upon  the  completion  of  his  task,  the  "well  done"  which 
will  finally  be  spoken  to  every  good  and  faithful  servant. 
In  1840  Harriet  Martineau  visited  the  United  States 
and  reported  only  seven  occupations  open  to  women, — 
teaching,  needlework,  keeping  boarders,  working  in 
cotton  factories,  typesetting,  bookbinding,  and  house- 
hold service.  The  school  has  been  blamed  for  causing 
the  rising  generation  to  underestimate  the  last  named  in 
comparison  with  the  other  occupations  open  to  women. 
woman  m  When  anything  goes  wrong  in  American  life 

the  arts.  ^e  school  is  not  only  blamed,  but  also  expected 
to  supply  the  remedy.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is 
much  false  thinking  oh  the  subject  of  household  service 


THINKING   IN  THE  ARTS.  335 

in  so-called  polite  society.  A  woman  may  cook  for  her- 
self and  her  own  household  without  losing  caste.  As 
soon  as  she  becomes  the  cook  in  another  woman's  kitchen 
she  is  banished  from  the  parlor  of  fashionable  society. 
She  can  stand  in  a  store  or  work  in  a  factory  without 
losing  her  place  in  the  social  scale  ;  but  if  she  works  for 
hire  in  the  kitchen,  she  is  thenceforth  treated  as  belong- 
ing to  a  lower  caste.  Is  thinking  in  the  culinary  art  less 
valuable  or  less  difficult  than  the  thinking  involved  in 
selling  ribbons  and  laces?  Does  the  preparation  of  a 
palatable  meal  require  less  brains  and  less  skill  than  the 
setting  of  type  or  the  making  of  yarn  ?  Does  good  cook- 
ing add  less  to  the  welfare  of  the  race  than  playing  on  the 
piano  or  painting  in  oil-  or  water- colors'?  The  teaching 
of  domestic  science  is  calculated  to  change  public  opinion 
and  to  add  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness  by  emanci- 
pating the  home  from  the  tyranny  and  the  caprices  of 
the  servant  girl  and  by  securing  to  deserving  help  a 
juster  appreciation  of  efficient  thinking  in  household 
service. 

America  has  been  aptly  named  the  paradise  of  woman. 
The  American  woman  is  not  expected  to  break  stones 
upon  the  highway,  to  carry  market- baskets  on     j^^^ 
the  top  of  her  head,  to  pull  the  milk-cart  along-     the  para- 
side  of  the  dog,  to  do  all  kinds  of  rough  manual      dise  of 

woman. 

labor,  whilst  strong-armed  and  able-bodied  men 
have  charge  of  the  elementary  schools.  Fully  two-thirds 
of  the  teachers  in  America  are  women.  Her  sphere  of 
activity  has  been  greatly  enlarged  in  other  directions. 
She  may  be  the  inferior  of  the  stronger  sex  in  original 
and  creative  work, — time  will  settle  that  question, — but 
in  ability  to  carry  college  work  and  to  do  practical  think- 
ing she  has  shown  herself  the  equal  of  her  brother  and  in 
every  respect  deserving  of  the  exalted  position  assigned 
to  her  in  the  New  World.  She  has  attained  her  standing 


336  THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

in  America  through  her  ability  to  think  and  to  apply 
thought  in  the  useful  arts. 

The  liberal  arts  were  subdivided  into  the  trivium  and 
the  quadrivium.  The  trivium,  consisting  of  grammar, 
The  liberal  logic,  and  rhetoric,  sought  to  teach  the  art  of 

arts-  thinking  correctly,  of  expressing  thought  in 
correct  language,  and  of  presenting  it  in  forceful,  persua- 
sive discourse. 

The  quadrivium,  consisting  of  arithmetic,  geometry, 

astronomy,  and  music,  was  composed  of  thought- studies, 

Quadriv-     and  furnished  material  for  the  thinking  of  gen- 

ium.  erations  of  the  best  men.  The  enlargement  of 
the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge  has  increased  the 
number  of  studies  to  such  an  extent  that  no  student  need 
weep  like  Alexander  because  there  are  no  more  worlds  to 
conquer.  Moreover,  in  many  directions  the  human  race 
is  simply  on  the  border-land  of  discovery.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  a  professor  lamented  that  the  age  of 
discovery  had  passed.  The  professor  who 
quoted  him  in  the  middle  of  the  century  could 
point  to  the  steam-engine,  the  electric  telegraph,  and  the 
use  of  anaesthetics.  In  the  closing  year  of  the  century 
we  can  point  to  a  record  of  inventions  and  discoveries  un- 
surpassed in  the  thought-achievements  of  the  race.  Man 
has  learned  to  put  thought  into  machines  that  do  work 
with  a  speed  and  accuracy  impossible  of  attainment  by 
the  human  hand.  His  thought  is  changing  the  face  of 
the  earth  and  developing  a  civilization  based  upon  a 
degree  of  physical  well-being  and  comfort  of  which  the 
man  of  the  last  century  had  not  the  faintest  conception. 
To  follow  in  thought  the  achievements  of  a  single  year  in 
the  improvement  of  machinery  and  the  resulting  addi- 
tions to  our  material  wealth  is  to  fill  the  soul  with  wonder 
at  the  marvellous  powers  of  the  race.  All  is  due  pri- 
marily to  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  thought,  and  sec« 


THINKING  IN  THE  ARTS.  337 

ondarily  to  the  manifold  ways  of  expressing  and  realizing 
thought.  Never  were  there  such  magnificent  opportuni- 
ties for  those  who  have  learned  to  combine  thought  and 
action,  intelligence  and  skill,  brains  and  the  handicrafts. 
The  tradesman  deserves  honor  and  recognition  with  those 
who  earn  their  bread  by  their  wits.  Both  can  live  the 
higher  life  of  thought  and  culture. 

The  relation  of  the  trivium  to  the  art  of  thinking  is 
often  misconceived.  Grammar,  logic,  and  rhetoric  fur- 
nish valuable  food  for  thought,  excellent  disci- 

Trivium. 

pline  for  the  mind,  especially  for  the  under- 
standing ;  but  they  do  not  beget  the  power  of  thinking  in 
new  fields  of  investigation.  Their  function  is  corrective, 
not  creative.  Those  who  hope  to  learn  the  art  of  compo- 
sition by  the  study  of  English  grammar  are  sure  to  be 
disappointed.  Grammar  furnishes  the  tests  and  rules  by 
which  one  may  determine  the  correctness  of  sentences. 
It  may  furnish  discipline  for  the  understanding,  and  thus 
prove  valuable  as  a  means  of  culture.  It  utterly  fails  to 
produce  thinkers  beyond  the  thinking  required  in  the 
interpretation  of  language.  Parsing,  analysis,  and  dia- 
gramming often  become  a  mechanical  iteration  of  set 
phrases,  resulting  in  mental  apathy.  Questions  in  unex- 
pected forms  may  then  be  needed  to  rouse  the  slumbering 
powers  of  the  intellect. 

Homer  and  Plato  wrote  good  Greek,  although  neither 
of  them  had  any  knowledge  of  grammar  as  a  science. 
Men  used  correct  sentences  long  before  there  was  a  scien- 
tific treatment  of  the  sentence. 

The  same  remarks  are  applicable  to  the  other  studies 
of  the  trivium.  Men's  minds  obeyed  the  laws  of  thought 
and  drew  correct  inferences  long  before  the  science  of 
logic  was  formulated.  He  who  studies  logic  in  the  hope 
that  it  will  make  him  an  original  thinker  is  doomed  to 
disappointment.  Logic  has  a  critical  as  well  as  a  disci- 

22 


338  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

plinary  value.  Its  influence  upon  the  intellectual  life  is 
like  that  of  mathematics.  It  furnishes  a  test  for  one's 
own  thinking  and  provides  the  means  for  detecting  falla- 
cies in  the  reasoning  of  others.  Logic  can  be  taught  with 
advantage  to  those  who  have  learned  to  think  ;  it  fails  to 
make  creative  spirits  who  have  the  power  of  gathering 
thoughts,  weaving  them  into  a  system,  and  reaching 
trustworthy  conclusions. 

Ehetoric  possesses  great  disciplinary  value  for  the  un- 
derstanding. It  deserves  careful  study  on  the  part  of 
those  who  express  their  thoughts  in  public  discourse. 
The  moment  it  becomes  an  end,  instead  of  means  to  an 
end,  it  defeats  its  own  purpose.  To  draw  the  attention 
to  the  figures  of  speech  and  other  rhetorical  devices  of 
an  oration  is  to  divert  the  mind  from  the  line  of  thought 
and  to  defeat  the  purpose  for  which  rhetoric  is  taught. 
The  studies  of  the  trivium  are  like  the  handicrafts  in 
that  they  serve  as  means  to  an  end.  From  one  point  of 
view  they  deserve  to  be  classed  with  the  useful  arts; 
from  another  it  is  apparent  that  they  furnish  material  for 
thinking  quite  as  valuable  as  the  multitudinous  branches 
of  study  into  which  the  quadrivium  has  been  expanded. 

The  arts  are  sometimes  divided  upon  the  basis  of  use 
and  beauty.  From  one  point  of  view,  as  already  indi- 
cated, the  liberal  arts  may  be  regarded  as  be- 
longing to  the  category  of  the  useful,  and  thus 
as  forming  part  of  a  class  distinct  from  the  fine  arts.  Yet 
the  idea  of  beauty  enters  into  all  that  man  does.  Sooner  or 
later  he  seeks  to  adorn  his  home,  his  language,  everything 
that  he  employs  in  giving  expression  to  his  inner  life. 

The  thinking  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  fine  arts  has 
distinguishing  qualities  and  characteristics.'  The  mind 
may  be  so  completely  absorbed  in  poetry,  music,  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  and  in  the  other  things  which  make  life 
beautiful  that  it  ceases  to  be  a  fit  instrument  for  useful 


THINKING  IN  THE  ARTS.  339 

living  or  for  engaging  in  more  advanced  thinking.  The 
element  of  feeling  predominates  in  the  appreciation  of 
the  beautiful.  The  two  factors  which  enter  into  the 
beautiful  are  the  idea  and  the  form.  By  casting  into  the 
alembic  of  the  imagination  the  materials  which  the  mind 
gathers  from  the  external  world,  there  is  evolved  the 
ideal ;  as  soon  as  this  ideal  is  found  embodied  in  any 
form  of  nature  or  art  the  object  is  called  beautiful.  The 
power  to  see  the  idea  in  the  form,  the  ideal  in  the  work 
of  art,  is  a  function  of  thinking,  and  deserves  attention 
from  those  who  are  teaching  others  to  think. 

Vast  is  the  difference  between  the  aesthetic  and  the 
scientific  appreciation  of  nature.     The  scientist  pulls  the 
flower  to  pieces,   analyzes  its  parts,    imposes 
hard  names,  and  destroys  that  about  the  flower    and  scien- 
which  is  most  attractive  to  the  child  and  the  tiflc  studies 
poet.     The  student  of  beauty  admires  it  as  it  is 
in  its  original  surroundings.     He  cultivates  it  to  adorn 
the  garden,  the  yard,  the  home,  the  school-room. 

Very  much,  therefore,  depends  upon  the  way  in  which 
nature  is  studied.  The  study  may  be  pursued  to  beget 
habits  of  observation  or  to  cultivate  a  sense  of  the  beauti- 
ful. It  may  be  studied  for  the  sake  of  ascertaining  the 
laws  which  govern  the  growth  of  plants,  the  changes  of 
the  seasons,  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  the 
forces  which  give  us  light,  heat,  and  all  else  we  need  for 
body  and  mind.  When  it  is  studied  for  the  sake  of 
truth  and  beauty,  the  effort  lifts  us  into  the  domain  of 
the  higher  life. 

Why  should  any  portion  of  our  life,  as  compared  with 
another,  be  styled  the  higher  life?  Because  a  man's  life 
may  abound  in  some  of  the  activities  which  are  The  higher 
essential  to  his  existence  and  still  fail  to  realize  Ufe- 
the  end  of  his  existence.  Take  life  on  the  farm  with  all 
its  splendid  opportunities  for  the  study  of  nature  and  of 


340          THINKING  AND   LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

all  that  is  attractive  in  God's  universe.  Which  should 
be  of  most  account  in  the  education  of  the  farmer's  sons 
and  daughters, — mind  or  money,  light  or  lucre,  the  soul 
or  the  soil,  character  or  capacity  for  getting  riches? 
The  curse  of  wealth,  fame,  office,  and  the  like  is  that,  if 
they  become  the  chief  object  of  one's  ambition,  they  drag 
the  soul  into  the  dust  of  dishonor,  if  not  the  dust  of  the 
street. 

"If  the  farmer  boy  has  only  been  taught  how  to  raise 
better  stock,  what  will  he  do  when  that  better  stock 
The  farmer  ranges  his  farm  ?  Will  he  be  a  happier  father 

^y-  and  a  nobler  citizen1?  Will  his  home  life  be 
any  less  coarse  and  dull  ?  Will  the  possession  of  blooded 
stock  make  him  any  more  honest  than  common  stock? 
If  that  is  all  you  have  taught  him,  will  he  not  still  be  a 
brute  among  his  brutes?  Indeed,  just  so  far  as  you  in- 
crease his  money- making  without  increasing  his  true 
culture  and  manliness,  you  increase  the  probability  that 
he  will  die  a  drunkard,  his  son  a  spendthrift,  and  his 
grandson  a  pauper.  The  supreme  need  is  character  to 
guide  these  resources."  * 

Whilst  it  is  worth  while  to  dignify  labor  in  all  the 
handicrafts  by  showing  the  need  for  intelligent  thought 
on  the  part  of  those  who  follow  them,  it  is  of  vastly  more 
importance  to  emphasize  the  things  of  the  mind,  and  to 
The  things  show  how  the  ability  to  think  conditions  the 

of  the  activities  of  the  higher  life  and  is  essential  to 
^  the  full  realization  of  man's  being.  The  rela- 
tion of  thinking  to  the  higher  life  will  claim  our  attention 
in  the  concluding  chapter. 

*  Crocker's  "  Student  in  American  Life,"  pages  23,  28. 


341 


How  vastly  disproportionate  are  the  pleasures  of  the  eating  and 
of  the  thinking  man !  indeed,  as  different  as  the  silence  of  an 
Archimedes  in  the  study  of  a  problem,  and  the  stillness  of  a  sow 
at  her  wash.  Nothing  is  comparable  to  the  pleasure  of  an  active 
and  prevailing  thought, — a  thought  prevailing  over  the  difficulty 
and  obscurity  of  the  object,  and  refreshing  the  soul  with  new 
discoveries  and  images  of  things,  and  thereby  extending  the 
bounds  of  apprehension,  and  enlarging  the  territories  of  reason. 

DH.  SOUTH. 

What  is  more  pleasant  than  to  read  of  strong-hearted  youths, 
who,  in  the  midst  of  want  and  hardships  of  many  kinds,  have 
clung  to  books,  feeding,  like  bees  to  flowers  ?  By  the  light  of  pine- 
logs,  in  dim-lit  garrets,  in  the  fields  following  the  plough,  in  early 
dawns  when  others  are  asleep,  they  ply  their  blessed  task,  seeking 
nourishment  for  the  mind,  athirst  for  truth,  yearning  for  full  sight 
of  the  high  worlds  of  which  they  have  caught  faint  glimpses ; 
happier  now,  lacking  everything  save  faith  and  a  great  purpose, 
than  in  after-years  when  success  shall  shower  on  them  applause 

and  gold. 

BISHOP  SPALDING. 


142 


XXII 
THINKING  AND  THE  HIGHER  LIFE 

THE  preceding  chapter  pointed  out  the  function  of 
thinking  in  the  arts,  and  the  reciprocal  influence  of  these 
upon  the  power  of  thought.  It  remains  to  point  out  the 
relation  of  thinking  to  the  higher  life.  The  best  point 
of  departure  for  such  a  discussion  is  the  book  which  has 
done  more  to  foster  the  higher  life  of  the  soul  than  all 
other  books  combined.  From  some  points  of  view  the 
best  book  on  teaching  ever  made  is  the  Book  of  books. 
In  it  we  find  not  only  practical  examples  and  The  Book 
marvellous  illustrations  of  the  art  of  the  teacher,  of  t100^- 
but  also  the  most  significant  maxims  and  statements 
bearing  upon  the  development  of  the  inner  life.  In  the 
account  of  the  Temptation  in  the  Wilderness,  we  have 
an  utterance  from  the  lips  of  the  Great  Teacher,  direct- 
ing our  attention  towards  the  higher  life.  i  i  Man  shall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  (Matt.  iv.  4.) 

In  the  universities  one  hears  a  great  deal  about  bread- 
studies.     Knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  culture  for  cul- 
ture's sake,  education,  not  for  the  sake  of  its      Bread- 
money-value,  but  for  the  mind's  sake,  are  the     studies. 
ideals  held  up  before  the  minds  of  the  students.     A 
world-famous  professor  of  mathematics  demonstrated  a 
new  theorem,  and  closed  the  demonstration  with  the  ex- 
clamation, "Now,  that  is  true,  and,  thank  God,  nobody 
can  use  it !"     Does  knowledge  increase  in  value  as  its 

843 


344  THINKING  AND   LEARNING    TO    THINK. 

utility  diminishes  ?  This  professor  was  drawing  an  an- 
nual salary  of  five  thousand  dollars,  and  could  well  afford 
to  ignore  the  money- value  of  an  education.  Lifted  above 
the  struggle  for  bread,  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
multitudes  in  whose  experience  the  struggle  for  bread 
is  the  all-absorbing  problem  of  life.  The  theory  of  life 
The  Great  propounded  by  the  Great  Teacher  is  very  dif- 
Teacher.  ferent.  He  did  not  despise  the  arts  that  make 
bread  and  win  bread.  Twice  He  miraculously  multiplied 
the  loaves  and  fishes,  in  order  to  feed  the  multitudes.  For 
many  years  He  worked  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and  after 
the  death  of  His  father  helped  to  support  His  mother. 
When  hanging  upon  the  cross,  He  intrusted  His  mother 
to  the  care  of  John,  the  u  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved." 

But  when  Satan  came  to  him  and  suggested  the 
making  of  bread  by  unlawful  means,  He  repelled  the 
tempter,  saying,  ' '  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 
Bread  here  stands  for  more  than  physical  food.  It  is 
symbolic  of  the  life  that  turns  upon  what  we  eat  and 
drink,  the  garments  we  wear,  and  the  houses  we  live  in. 

The  best  of  French  kings  cherished  it  as  the  ambition 
of  his  life  to  make  every  one  of  his  subjects  so  well  off 
The  French  as  to  be  able  on  Sunday  to  have  roast  fowl  for 

ting.  dinner.  Had  he  lived  in  our  day,  he  would 
have  included  among  the  objects  of  his  ambition  a  new 
bonnet  for  every  woman  at  least  twice  a  year.  Boast 
fowl  and  new  bonnets  cost  money ;  and  money  indicates 
the  plane  from  which  very  many  people  look  at  every 
question  of  government  and  education.  Money  stands 
for  what  we  eat  and  drink,  for  the  garments  we  wear  and 
the  houses  we  live  in,  for  the  thousands  of  creature  com- 
forts which  we  deem  essential  to  our  well-being  and  hap- 
piness. Perhaps  the  school  has  not  done  all  it  is  destined 
to  accomplish  in  fitting  the  pupils  to  win  these,  but  there 


THINKING   AND    THE  HIGHER  LIFE.  345 

is  abundant  evidence  to  show  that  a  good  school  increases 
the  earning  power  of  the  individual,  and  thereby  makes 
possible  the  higher  life  of  mind,  or  of  the  soul.  Earning 
The  untutored  red  man  eked  out  a  scanty  ex-  power, 
istence  in  spite  of  unparalleled  advantages  in  soil  and 
stream  and  climate ;  the  intelligence  begotten  by  the 
modern  school  has  enabled  our  people  to  utilize  and  de- 
velop the  material  resources  of  the  New  World  to  such 
an  extent  that  Carlyle  sneeringly  said,  ' '  America  means 
roast  turkey  every  day  for  everybody."  Let  us  accept  the 
remark  as  an  acknowledgment  that  the  American  people 
are  better  fed  than  those  of  England  or  Continental 
Europe  ;  and  yet  Carlyle  was  right  in  hinting  that  there 
is  a  life  higher  than  that  which  turns  upon  what  we  eat 
and  drink  and  wear,  for  this  is  in  accord  with  the  view 
of  life  taught  by  the  greatest  Teacher  of  all  the  ages. 

It  is  worth  while  to  pause  a  moment  for  the  purpose 
of  pointing  out  the  relation  of  the  higher  life  to  the  side 
of  life  symbolized  by  bread.  In  a  word,  the  higher  life 
rests  upon  the  other  as  a  basis.  Where  the 

The  basis 

vital  energies  of  a  people  are  exhausted  in  the  of  the 
struggle  for  bread,  the  very  mention  of  educa-  ^te^1 life- 
tion  is  a  mockery.  The  school  lays  the  foundation  for 
the  higher  life  when  it  increases  the  average  earning 
power  of  the  industrial  classes,  and  thereby  makes  it 
easier  for  them  to  gain  a  livelihood.  Here  is  the  first 
point  of  contact  between  the  school  and  the  higher  life. 
There  is  no  language  sufficiently  strong  to  condemn  the 
spirit  of  the  professor  who,  when  he  had  demonstrated  a 
new  theorem  in  higher  mathematics,  thanked  God  that 
nobody  could  use  it. 

Only  professors  filling  well- endowed  chairs  at  our  uni- 
versities can  afford  to  speak  disparagingly  of  Brot- 
studien  and  to  advocate  theories  of  education  which 
would  sunder  the  school  from,  practical  life.  An  educa- 


346          THINKING  AND  LEARNING    TO   THINK. 

tion  that  unfits  the  pupil  for  bread-winning  in  case  of 
necessity  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned ;  among 
other  reasons,  because  it  fails  to  lay  a  proper  foundation 
for  the  higher  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the  school  that 
does  not  aim  at  something  higher  than  dollars  and  cents 
deserves  equally  severe  condemnation ;  for  that  which 
makes  life  worth  living  cannot  be  bought  with 

What  * 

money  can  nioney.  If  you  are  rich,  you  may  buy  a  fine 
and  cannot  house,  but  you  cannot  buy  a  happy  home  ;  that 

buy'  must  be  made, — made  by  you  and  by  those  who 
occupy  it  with  you.  With  money  you  may  rent  a  pew 
in  some  fashionable  church,  but  you  cannot  rent  a  good 
conscience, — that  depends  upon  your  manner  of  living 
and  dealing  with  others.  Money  will  enable  you  to  buy 
a  fine  copy  of  Shakespeare,  but  it  cannot  purchase  for 
you  the  ability  to  appreciate  a  play  of  Shakespeare,— 
that  is  the  result  of  education.  Wealth  will  enable  you 
to  cover  the  walls  of  your  costly  mansion  with  beautiful 
pictures ;  and  the  sewing-girl,  if  she  has  been  properly 
taught  in  a  public  school,  will  get  more  enjoyment  out 
of  them  than  can  possibly  be  gotten  by  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  wealth  and  luxury  whose  proper  education 
has  been  neglected. 

Plato  wrote  above  the  door  of  the  academy,  "Let  no 
one  enter  here  who  is  destitute  of  geometry."  Why  did 
he  value  geometry  so  highly  ?  Not  merely  as  an  intro- 
duction to  the  study  of  philosophy,  for  in  one  of  his 
dialogues  he  says,  "God  geometrizes."  He  had  an  idea 
that  a  youth  in  thinking  the  theorems  of  geometry  is 
thinking  divine  thoughts.  When  Kepler  dis- 

God's  covered  the  laws  of  planetary  motion,  he  ex- 
thoughts.  Calmed,  in  ecstasy,  "O  God,  I  think  thy 
thoughts  after  thee  !"  When  a  pupil  learns  to  think  the 
thoughts  which  the  Creator  has  put  into  the  starry 
heavens  above  us  and  into  all  nature  about  us,  he  is 


THINKING  AND   THE  HIGHER  LIFE.  347 

thinking  God's  thoughts  and  tasting  the  enjoyments  of 
the  higher  life.  When  he  is  taught  the  right  use  of 
books,  and  given  access  to  a  public  library,  he  may 
acquire  the  power  to  think  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best 
men  at  their  best  moments.  In  nature  study,  in  the 
reading  lesson,  in  the  teaching  of  science  and  literature, 
the  school  fosters  the  higher  life  of  the  pupil  by  enabling 
him  to  think  God's  thoughts  and  man's  best  thoughts  as 
these  are  enshrined  in  creation  and  in  the  humanities. 
The  objection  is  sometimes  heard  that  the  school  The  objec- 
makes  the  working-classes  discontented  with  tion- 
their  lot.  " Teach  a  man  to  think,"  says  the  opponent 
of  universal  education,  ' '  and  you  make  him  dissatisfied 
with  what  he  has  and  knows."  If  the  school  fixes  the 
eye  upon  wealth,  fame,  glory,  official  position,  and  other 
things  which  can  be  attained  only  by  a  few,  and  which, 
when  sought  as  the  chief  end  of  life,  resemble  the  apples 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  turning  to  ashes  on  the  lips  as  soon  as 
they  are  tasted,  then,  indeed,  the  school  may  doom  its 
pupils  to  a  life  of  discontent  and  disappointment.  But 
if  the  school  fixes  the  eye  upon  the  things  of  the  higher 
life,  things  which  are  within  the  reach  of  every  boy  and 
girl  at  school,  it  lays  the  foundation  for  a  con-  True  con- 
tentment far  transcending  the  possibilities  of  a  tentment. 
life  that  turns  upon  feasting,  office-holding,  and  the 
things  that  can  be  bought  with  money. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  exercise  of  the  higher 
powers  carries  with  it  a  certain  feeling  of  discontent,  but 
it  is  a  feeling  that  conditions  true  progress  and  is  not 
doomed  to  ultimate  disappointment.  The  true  test  of 
what  is  preferable  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  have 
knowledge  of  both  modes  of  existence.  Who  that  knows 
both  .  does  not  value  the  pleasures  of  thinking  above 
those  of  eating !  Who  would  exchange  the  joy  of  doing 
right  for  anything  attainable  by  the  man  who,  for  the 


348  THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK. 

sake  of  success,  banishes  ethics  from  his  business  or  his 
politics?  "Few  human  creatures,"  says  Mill,  "would 
consent  to  be  changed  into  any  of  the  lower  animals  for 
a  promise  of  the  fullest  allowance  of  a  beast's  pleasures ; 
no  intelligent  human  being  would  consent  to  be  a  fool, 
no  instructed  person  would  be  an  ignoramus,  no  person 
of  feeling  and  conscience  would  be  selfish  and  base,  even 
though  he  should  be  persuaded  that  the  fool,  or  the  dunce, 
or  the  rascal  is  better  satisfied  with  his  lot  than  they 
with  theirs."  "It  is  better  to  be  a  human  being  dis- 
satisfied than  a  pig  satisfied,  better  to  be  a  Socrates  dis- 
satisfied than  a  fool  satisfied.  And  if  the  fool  or  the  pig 
is  of  a  different  opinion,  it  is  only  because  they  know 
only  their  own  side  of  the  question.  The  other  party  to 
the  comparison  knows  both  sides."  Who  would  not 
rather  be  an  intelligent  workingman  seeking  to  better 
his  condition,  than  an  ignoramus  contented  with  little 
because  he  knows  nothing  of  the  joys  of  the  higher 
life? 

Life  is  full  of  contradictions  and  incongruities  and 
disappointments.  Over  against  these,  the  school,  in  its 
Life's  con-  relation  to  the  higher  life,  has  a  duty  to  per- 
tradictions.  form.  For  the  discontent  which  springs  from 
life's  contradictions  and  incongruities  a  safety-valve  has 
been  given  to  man  in  his  ability  to  laugh.  The  person 
who  never  laughs  is  as  one-sided  and  abnormal  as  the 
person  who  never  prays.  The  comic  is  now  recognized 
as  one  form  of  the  beautiful,  and  the  beautiful  is  closely 
allied  to  the  true  and  the  good.  Without  going  into  the 
philosophy  of  this  matter,  attention  may  be  drawn  to 
the  fact  that  beauty  has  a  home  in  the  domain  of  art, 
as  well  as  of  nature ;  that  the  queen  of  the  fine  arts  is 
poetry  ;  that  the  greatest  poet  of  all  the  ages  was  Shakes- 
peare ;  that  Shakespeare's  literary  genius  reached  its 
highest  flights  in  tragedies  and  comedies  j  that  whilst 


THINKING  AND    THE  HIGHER  LIFE.  349 

tragedy  and  comedy  are  two  forms  of  the  beautiful  in 
art,  comedy  is  the  highest  form  of  the  comic,  whilst 
tragedy  is  the  highest  form  of  the  sublime.     In     Tragedy 
teaching  us  to  appreciate  the  plays  of  Shakes-        and 
peare,  the  school  not  merely  teaches  us  when  to     comedsr- 
laugh  and  when  to  weep,  thereby  furnishing  the  safety- 
valve  to  let  off  our  discontent  and  to  reconcile  us  anew 
to  our  lot,  but  puts  us  in  possession  of  that  which  money 
cannot  buy, — namely,  the  ability  to  appreciate  the  beau- 
tiful in  its  subtlest  and  sublimest  forms.     Who  owns  the 
moonlit  skies,  the  millionaire  or  the  poet  ?    Who  owns 
the  hills  and  the  valleys,  the  streams  and  the  mountains ; 
he  in  whose  name  the  deeds  and  mortgages  are  recorded, 
or  he  whose  soul  can  appreciate  beauty  and  sublimity ! 
Beauty  has  a  home  in  nature  and  in  art.    It  is 

Beauty. 

the  province  of  the  school  to  put  us  in  posses- 
sion of  the  beautiful,  the  sublime,  and  the  comic,  for  these 
quite  as  much  as  the  true  and  the  good  belong  to  the 
things  of  the  higher  life. 

How  about  life's  disappointments?    Higher  than  the 
life  of  thought  is  the  life  of  faith  and   hope      Faith 
and  love, — higher,  because  these  are  rooted  and    hope,  and 
grounded  in  the  life  of  thought,  ripen  above  it 
as  its  highest  fruitage  and  efflorescence.     The  nineteenth 
century  has  been  an  age  of  faith.     Every  scientific  mind 
has  profound  faith  in  nature's  laws,   in  the  universal 
efficacy  of  truth  ;  and,  like  Agassiz  and  Gray  and  Drurn- 
mond,  multitudes  of  the  best  minds  have  made  the  step 
from  faith  in  natural  laws  to  faith  in  the  laws  which 
govern  the  spiritual  world. 

The  common  people  evince  a  faith  almost  bordering  on 
credulity  in  the  readiness  with  which  they  accept  the 
results  of  scientific  research  and  investigation.  Faith 
lies  at  the  basis  of  great  achievements.  Bismarck  de- 
clared that  if  he  did  not  believe  in  the  divine  govern- 


350          THINKING  AND  LEARNING   TO   THINK, 

ment  of  the  world,  he  would  not  serve  his  country  an- 
other day.  "Take  away  my  faith,"  he  exclaimed,  "and 
you  take  away  my  country,  too."  Whilst  no  religious 
test  can  be  applied  to  those  who  teach  in  our  public 
schools,  our  best  people  prefer  teachers  who  have  faith 
in  the  unseen  to  teachers  who  lack  faith  in  the  truths  of 
revelation.  In  ways  that  escape  observation,  the  spirit 
of  faith  passes  from  teacher  to  pupil,  and  gives  the  latter 
a  sense  of  something  to  live  for  and  something  to  be 
achieved. 

Faith  begets  hope.  The  hope  of  glory,  of  rewards  in 
civil  and  military  life,  of  immortality  on  the  pages  of 
history,  has  stimulated  to  deeds  of  heroism  and  self- 
sacrifice,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  to  the  end  of  time. 
The  higher  life  knows  of  higher  objects  of  hope  than 
these.  Immortality  on  the  pages  of  history  is  only  an 
immortality  in  printer's  ink.  The  true  teacher  wishes 
his  pupils  to  cherish  the  hope  of  an  immortality  far 
immor-  more  real  than  an  immortality  in  printer's  ink  ; 

taiity.  he  seeks  to  implant  in  their  hearts  the  hope  of 
an  immortal  life  in  a  world  where  the  soul  shall  be  robed 
in  a  body  like  unto  Christ's  risen  body,  which  Stephen 
saw  in  a  vision  of  glory  and  Paul  beheld  in  a  manifesta- 
tion of  overwhelming  splendor. 

That  which  makes  life  worth  living  is  the  life  of  love, 
In  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians,  which  is 

-  a  poem,  though  lacking  metre  and  rhyme, 

makes  life  Paul  speaks  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  and 
sa^s  *nat,  °f  these  three,  the  greatest  is  charity, 
or  love,  as  the  Revised  Version  translates  it. 
Faith  shall  be  changed  to  sight,  and  hope  to  glad  frui- 
tion, but  love  shall  abide  forever.  Throughout  the  cease- 
less ages  of  eternity,  love  of  the  truth,  as  it  is,  in  Jesus, 
— yea,  man's  love  for  his  Maker  and  his  Saviour,  and 
for  the  whole  glorious  company  of  the  redeemed, — will 


THINKING  AND   THE  HIGHER  LIFE.  351 

continue  to  glow  and  to  grow,  lifting  the  soul  to  ever 
loftier  heights  of  ecstasy  and  bliss.  A  foretaste  of  this 
ecstatic  bliss  is  possible  in  this  life.  Love  of  home  and 
country,  of  kindred  and  friends,  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness, of  beauty  in  all  its  forms,  of  goodness  of  every 
kind,  up  to  the  highest  forms  of  the  good,  gives  life  on 
earth  a  heavenly  charm.  Even  in  this  world,  the  love 
that  binds  human  hearts,  that  makes  homes  and  brother- 
hoods, that  issues  in  deeds  of  kindness,  friendship,  and 
charity,  is  bringing  more  happiness  to  the  race  than  all 
other  agencies  combined. 

"The  night  has  a  thousand  eyes, 

And  the  day  but  one  ; 
Yet  the  light  of  the  whole  world  dies 
"With  the  setting  sun. 

"  The  mind  has  a  thousand  eyes, 

And  the  heart  but  one  ; 
But  the  light  of  a  whole  life  dies 
When  love  is  done." 

The  school  makes  possible  the  higher  life  when  it 
teaches  the  pupil  to  think.  Eight  thinking  puts  intel- 
ligence into  the  labor  of  his  hands,  increases  Thinking 
his  earning-power,  lays  the  foundation  for  his  and  ^ving. 
physical  well-being,  and  lifts  him  above  an  existence 
that  is  a  mere  struggle  for  bread.  It  promotes  the  higher 
life  by  teaching  him  to  think  God's  thoughts,  as  enshrined 
in  all  His  works,  and  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men, 
as  embodied  in  literature  and  the  humanities.  It  fits  the 
pupi)  for  complete  living  by  developing  in  him  the  power 
to  appreciate  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  art,  power  to 
think  the  true  and  to  will  the  good,  power  to  live  the 
life  of  thought,  and  faith,  and  hope,  and  love. 

THE  END. 


J 


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